Caged Diamond
by Teddybear no1
Summary: Kendall has come to LA to pursue his dream of being a rockstar. He takes a job as a barkeep in a gay strip joint where the star attraction is a beautiful, young pole-dancer known as The Diamond. But things behind the scenes are not what they seem and Kendall soon finds himself drawn into a world of pain and horror. Kames with a side order of Cargan
1. Chapter 1

CAGED DIAMOND

_A/N This is my first story in this fandom. Please be aware that there is some extremely dark stuff gonna happen in this story. I'm hoping to get a chapter up a week. Please read and review and let me know what you think!_

_Well, Shae! Here we go! Let's see where it is gonna take us!_

Kendall was making his way down the dark alleyway between the large, warehouse like buildings looking for the address written on the piece of paper in his hand. Surely this was no place for a nightclub? Even one with as unsavoury a reputation as this one had. 'Twisted Desires' It was called, a gay strip joint that promised to cater for all tastes. But although money had become a problem since he had arrived here in LA from Minnesota, he hadn't yet sunk that low. Kendall was in LA to persue his dreams of being a rockstar and even though he was gay himself, there was no way that he was gonna strip for a living.

The job he was being interviewed for was as a barkeeper and it said general duties too, he wasn't actually sure what that would involve, but he would definitely ask before accepting the job. Though to be honest, he wasn't really in any position to refuse pretty much anything. He needed to make some money and quickly or he would lose the room that he was renting. He turned a corner and there it finally was. A huge plain looking three storey building with neon lights all over the front and the frontage painted slick, gloss black with silver trim. He supposed that it looked quite classy for where it was. There was a door already open at the side and he walked through looking for the guy he was supposed to talk to. But it appeared to be empty.  
"Err? Hello? Anyone here?" He called, he glanced down at the piece of paper for the guy's name. "Mr Bitters?" He stood waiting , staring around the place. Everything inside the building was also in the theme of black and silver. The bar over to the right was gleaming silver with the optics and bottles on the wall behind and fridgesunder the shelves full of beers and juices. At the other end of the large room was the stage, it had two gleaming silver poles on either side and a band set up at the back of the platform. The room itself was full of tables and chairs and nearer to the stage there were a couple of large leather couches. Black, of course.

Kendall jumped slightly when he heard the man coming down the spiral staircase in the corner, just past the bar. The man was large, bespectacled and as he approached and spoke, rather not in a fun way.

"Kendall Knight, I presume?" He sounded sarcastic even from those short did not think he was gonna like the man very much but, hey! What did that matter? He was gonna be his boss not his friend. He gave a nod and went to answer him, only to be cut short with a gruff, "Take your shirt off then!" Kendallk was taken aback, green eyes opening wide.

"What! I'm here for the barkeeps job! I'm not a stripper!"

Bitter's tutted and put his hands on his wide hips.

"And even our barmen need to be ...Presentable! Now shirt off! Come on! Or don't you want this job?" He tapped his foot as he stood waiting for Kendall to comply. Realising that he had to do it if he wanted the job, he sighed and crossed his arms and peeled his grey t-shirt off of his body. And he didn't 'want' this job, he 'needed' it. He let the shirt hang down in his grip and then crossed his arms defensively over his chest.

"And how am I supposed to see your... Form like that? Put your arms down! He shouted in Kendalls face. No. Kendall really didn't like this man, but he really wanted the job so he did as he was asked, breathing in sharply as he dropped his hands to his side, staring ahead of him and trying to ignore the man walking slowly around him, examining his 'form', his body closely.

"Not bad. No scars. But you are rather pale, especially for LA." He told the boy.

"I only got here last week."

"Where from? Antartica?" He snapped back.

"Minnesota."

"Might as well be Antartica. Well, I suppose that you can get some colour pretty quickly. You'll do. Wait there and I'll go get your uniform." The man turned away and started up the spiral staircase. Kendall went to start putting his t-shirt back on, and as Bitters came round to face him again he stopped and shouted at him again.

"Don't bother doing that! You still have to try on your uniform!" He shook his head as if he thought the boy was stupid and continued up the stairs while Kendall waited, t-shirt in hand and arms back crossed over his chest as he looked around himself nervously. Five minutes later he reappeared with a stack of clothing in his arms. Not a very big stack of clothing , but he informed Kendall that this was his uniform and he was to go up to the dressingroom opposite the top of the stairs and get changed. Then he could come backdown to meet his assistant and stage manager who would tell him what his job involved and show him how the cash register worked.

Kendall got to the top of the stairs and went into the room opposite as he had been told to. It was a rather dark room with the typical dressingroom table with lights around the mirror like he had seen in a million movies. There was a chair off to one side and he dropped the pile of clothing onto it and then began to look through them to see what he was expected to wear. And then he looked through them again just to reassure himself that this was really what they expected him to wear in public . Yep! Seems that they did. He went over to the door and clicked the lock on, no way he wanted anyone to walk in on him! But then from the looks of his uniform, would his body really be anymore concealed while he was wearing it?

He stripped off his clothing, and took a breath and began to put on the clothing he had been given. First item. A red leather thong, he slipped into the item and adjusted it so that he wasn't showing more than he wanted, he was probably going to have to give himself a ...ahem! Haircut later he thought! Next thing was what he thought was a pair of leather trousers but on unfolding then he found that they were cut open completely at the groin, with lacing across that highlighted the colour of the thong. They were also completely cut away across the back meaning the the globes of his ass were completely exposed. The top of the outfit consisted of white linen cuffs and a collar with a thin black tie that hung down the middle of his chest. He couldn't help but to go take a quick look at himself in the mirror and was both shocked and a little surprised at the image of himself that looked back. He looked good! But he still wasn't completely sure about projecting this image to the patrons of the club, he wasn't an openly sexual person.

He made his way back down the staircase to find that the manager had disappeared again, but there was another man there waiting for Kendall with his back turned to him that he assumed was the stage manager. The guy turned round when he heard the boy step off of the stairs. He was tall and slim with dark, spikey hair, shaved short on one side of his head and stunning blue eyes, he appeared to be around late twenties and he was dressed all in black leather with heavily made up eyes and a preditory smile. He looked kind of intimidating, standing there, feet apart and hands clasped behind his back, but when he smiled it was a whole different thing.

"Oh my! Aren't you perty!" he purred seductively as he began to circle round Kendall, looking him up and down all the time. No! Kendall thought, he was not 'perty!' Guys were handsome, not pretty, though with the make up, this guy did come quite close to it. He held his hand out to Kendall and he nervously took it, but instead of a handshake the guy lowered to the proferred hand and planted a gentle kiss on the back of Kendall's hand.

" You must be the newbie! Kendall isn't it?" He tilted his head as he waited for the reply. Kendall just nodded.

"And my name is Byron. I'm going to help you get to grips with your nice, new shiney job. I am the Emcee here. I keep the acts in order, make sure that you do your job right and on some nights, I perform too. Singing. I don't dance." Unlike Bitters, Kendall began to warm to Byron almost straight away and it gave him a little more confidence.

"Multi-talented!" Kendall grinned at him.

"Oh yes! I also make sure that the barstaff are properly attired. Turn round please!" He stepped back slightly, guesturing with his finger for Kendall to rotate as he dropped his head and examined him in minute detail. From his face he liked what he saw.

"Hmm? Yes I think that you'll do. Now before I get to the boring stuff, how to operate the tills etcetera, I'm going to give you a quick tour of the club and explain some of those, extra duties that are mentioned on the advertisement. Follow me please." He beckoned for Kendall to follow him as they started back up the spiral staircase. He paused a few steps up and turned to the boy again.

"You know, I wasn't thinking straight. I should have got you to go up in front of me really. Then I could have got a really good look at your ass!" He gave a cheeky grin before turning back and continuing up the stairs. Kendall couldn't help but chuckle.

Byron walked along the corridor beyond the dressingroom that Kendall had left his clothes in. He showed him where the performers would change, there was a large kitchen, some offices, and he showed him the janitors cupboard only in case there should ever be need for him to get a mop or something to clean up any accidents. As they carried on towards a second spiral staircase there were windows on one side looking out, rather surprisingly, on a lush well kept courtyard garden with a fountain sparkling in the sunshine and a palmtree with a circular seat around it. It seemed quite a bizarre thing to seen in this kinda area, but it was kinda nice too.

"Chrissie!"

The shout from behind him made Kendall jump slightly. It was loud, even though it came from behind a door further back down the corridor, from one of two locked rooms that Byron had said he would tell him about later. The look on Byron's face had suddenly changed, he closed his eyes and dropped his face to the floor , rubbing his eyes with his middle finger and thumb. A look of utter desolation flashed briefly before he remembered who he was with. He stood up straight and forced a smile onto his face, tilting his head back slightly as he waited for the next shout that he knew would be coming.

"Mr Bitters? Byron? Anyone?" He'd obviously heard their footsteps as they passed the door. And he knew he could probably guess what the boy wanted.

With a soft sigh he made his way back to the door. Kendall was a little shocked when he pulled out a set of keys, flicking through them untill he found the right one. Why was the door locked when someone was in there?

"Yeah! I heard ya! One minute!" The shouting stopped and Byron turned the key and pushed the door open. This room was being lived in. There was a bed in the corner and a cute Latino guy was kneeling on the end of it clutching the metal bedstead and eagerly watching as the door was opened.

"What do ya want, Carlos?" Byron only asked out of politeness. At this time of day he knew exactly what the boy wanted. Same thing as he wanted most times of the day.

"I'm hungry, Byron! Can I have something to eat? Pleeeaase?" Such a childlike young man. Sometimes it was hard to believe the things that were expected of him. Byron just stood holding the door open as he bounced on his knees, eyes wide. He sighed and gave an indulgent smile.

"OK. Come on then. Let's see what we can find for you." He bounced from his place on the bed and headed towards the door. He was barefoot, wearing sweats and a t-shirt, but the thing that Kendall noticed almost straight away was that he wore a narrow black collar, the type that you usually saw on a dog, not a human being. But, he supposed, in a place like this it was not that strange, not that he knew too much about the scene he guessed that he was probably a submissive. Not that he expected one to behave the way that Carlos did, rushing ahead of them back to the kitchen, beckoning Byron on with a voice full of youthful enthusiasm. He didn't seem to have noticed Kendall for a moment as he stood to the side watching the interaction of the two men, but when he did, stopped stock still and openly stared.

"Who's that?" He asked pointing at him, his face full of curiosity. Byron turned and looked at Kendall over his shoulder, again something seemed to flash through his eyes, but it was gone as soon as it came.

"This?" The boy nodded. "This is Kendall. He's going to be working here. He's going to help me keep an eye on you!" He smiled then began to walk towards the kitchen again.

"Why? Where's Chris?" Byron froze. He didn't want to answer. he had been dreading the question and hadn't expected it to come so soon.

"He left. " He began to move again.

"When? Why?" The boy asked again. Byron gave a deep sigh.

" This morning. He got a better job offer. In Europe." That would have to do, far enough away that Carlos wouldn't ask to see him. The boy's face fell and tears prickled his soft brown eyes.

"And he didn't say goodbye?" He asked sadly. Oh fuck! Don't cry boy! If he started crying, Byron didn't think he could keep up the fascade. he reached and pulled the boy to him, Carlos' head resting on his broad chest. Damn it, Byron! Why did you ever get involved in this crap?

"He didn't have time. He found out really last minute." Carlos wrapped his arms around him in a tight hug, then pulled back and looked up into his eyes,

"Will he keep in touch? Let us know how he is?" Us? He knew who else he meant. The poor boy who had unwittingly caused this situation. He supposed that he would have to lie to him too. He kissed the top of the boy's head gently.

"He said that he would try to write. International calls are expensive. OK?" The boy looked up at him as he stepped back quietly. Byron smiled softly and took his hand. "Come on, then. I thought you were hungry?" The boy blinked a couple of times and then followed down the corridor, a smile returning to his face.

"Hey, Kendall? Do you like corndogs?" He called across to him. Kendall was not sure what he liked at the moment, and definitely not sure about this place. But, hey it was a job and it paid well. So, at least for the time being it was going to have to do. He couldn't help but smile at the boys enthusiasm and he answered with a quick 'yeah' as the boy let go of Byron's hand and ran ahead of them and into the kitchen.

Byron looked at Kendall, wondering what the blond was thinking about his interaction with the Latino youth.

"Hard to believe that he is a performer here, isn't it? The way he behaves like a six year old." Kendall nodded, still wondering what the hell he was getting into.

"What does he do?" He threw back his head with a loud laugh.

"He dances of course! And sometimes he works the poles. Don't let his behaviour fool you. Carlos is all man! Sexy as hell when he is on stage and the customers love him." Yeah, some of them a little more than he would have liked. Poor Carlos.

When they got into the kitchen, Carlos was already seated on a bar stool at the counter, or rather he was trying to sit at the counter. Byron watched with concern as he fought to get comfortable, frowning slightly when he let out a little yelp before finally settling down.

"You OK, Carlos?" He asked, still watching him intently as he made his way over to the huge double doored fridge-freezer.

"Yup! Hungry!" But they both knew that that wasn't what Byron meant. He opened the door and reached into the freezer and pulled out a big box of the boy's favourite treat.

"Do you want some, Kendall?" He held the box up so he could see what he had in his hand. Kendall hadn't eaten since breakfast so he nodded his thanks. Byron crossed to the microwave and popped a half dozen corn dogs onto a glass plate and set them to heat, knowing that most of them would end up inside the excitable young though Carlos was not his type, he prefered blond twinks and a european accent sent him crazy, he still found Carlos adorable and it made his heart sink everytime he thought of the additional performances that he was forced to give in the VIP lounge.

"Did you have any extra clients last night then? " He knew from the squirming that the boy had, but how bad it had been he wasn't sure he really wanted to know. The microwave pinged and he went over and retrieved the food, setting the plate on the counter and guesturing for Kendall to take a seat next to Carlos. He himself say down opposite them and rested his chin on his back of his joined hands, watching as the Latina began to shove the food into his mouth. "Be careful. They're hot!" He warned him and grinned as he watched his happy face. How could anyone be happy, living their life the way Carlos did?

"I only had some oatmeal this morning, and you know me! I need to eat!" Byron noticed how he had ignored the question about clients. His silence about what he had done, the only clue to his hatred of it. In Carlos' mind, if he did not talk about it, he could pretend that it did not happen. But his discomfort as he tried to settle on the seat again, reminded him that it had.

While Carlos and Kendall ate, Byron told him more of the things he would have to do, nothing big. Serving drinks and food to the VIP clients on the couches, Byron did not expect him to go into the VIP lounge. Not yet anyway, not until he was sure that the boy could handle seeing what went on in there some nights. he also needed him to keep an eye on Carlos during the day, when he was busy, mainly keeping him fed and happy, but oddly to Kendall, he was not to be around when Carlos was ready to perform or when the boy returned to his room afterwards. There was also another guy in the room next to Carlos', but he would only ever be expected to go into his room when Byron was with him.

"Why?" Kendall asked, jerking his head back slightly.

"Because that is the rules!" Byron snapped back, surprising the blond with his sharp response.

"OK. Just curious. Is he dangerous or something?" Kendall could never not give it back and he briefly wondered if he really wanted this job. But he needed the money so he opened his mouth to apologise but was cut off by Byron.

"No. I'm sorry. There are some ...Issues with James. You'll soon get to know how things work around here." But would he really want to?

"Have you finished eating now?" Kendall nodded and pushed back from the counter and stood up, the sucking sound of his ass cheeks coming away from the leather reminding him that he was still in his uniform. Carlos giggled as he finished off his third corn dog and eyed the two that remained on the plate.

"Has James eaten this afternoon? Shall I give take those to him?" Now that Byron had brought up the other boy, he felt comfortable mentioning him. Byron smiled kindly at him like an indulgent parent.

"Now, you know that you aren't allowed in James' room, don't you?"

"Aww! But he has a tv! And he must be lonely on his own." He pleaded.

"No. And that is final. I'll take the food to him and then I'm going to take him to the garden for a while, then I'll come back and see to you. Kendall, why don't you go get changed and wait downstairs and then I'll show you around down there. OK?" Kendall nodded agreement and headed out of the kitchen. As he left Carlos slipped from his seat with a flinch, watching the blonde's retreating form.

"Hey Kendall! " He called after him, causing him to stop and turn back to the boy. A huge grin was spread over Carlos' face.

"Nice ass, dude!" He chuckled. Kendall was slightly shocked, this place was going to take some getting used to, but he found himself looking down at his own barely concealed behind.

"Oh! Thanks!" What else could he say?

He continued down the corridor and back to the dressing room and began to change back into his jeans, only now did he remember that he had left his t-shirt downstairs. But then, he doubted that anyone would be shocked by a guy walking around topless in a place like this. he finished dressing and then made his way downstairs, settling in a chair as he put his shirt on and waited for Byron to return.

_Well, here we go! Please read and review! Thank you for your time! Blessings Allie )O(_


	2. Chapter 2

CAGED DIAMOND

_**A/N Well I didn't think this was gonna get published tonight! I've been in hospital all weekend, but here I am! Chapter 2! Meet the Diamond!**_

After he had settled the Latino boy back in his room, helping him straighten his bed clothes and turning on the radio that was high up on a shelf, out of the boy's reach to stop him from tuning into anything other than music, Byron left, locking the door behind him and headed to the other door. As he turned the key he was praying inside that he wouldn't ask after Chris as Carlos had, but he knew that he would. They had been close, closer than they were supposed to be.

When he opened the door, the plate of corn dogs balanced on his free hand, the youth inside was sitting on the end of his bed. His long legs were crossed at the ankles and his head was dropped forward, facing the floor. When he heard the door open his head jerked up looking expectantly at the visitor with the most amazing pair of hazel eyes framed by long, lush lashes. His features had a decidedly feminine cast to them with delicate pink cheeks and full soft lips. He was absolutely stunning and anyone would have been stupid not to find him attractive, either male or female. His shaggy brown hair was perfectly styled and he wore a soft, grey t-shirt and jeans, but was barefoot. As he gazed sadly at Byron it was hard to miss that, like Carlos, he wore a leather collar buckled around his throat. He tilted his head slightly and smiled softly and a trickle of silver caught the lights from over head. A thin, but strong chain that ran from his collar to the metal bed frame at the head of the bed. Byron hated to see him like this. So beautiful. So sad. So lonely. So captive.

Byron closed the door behind him and made his way over to the youth on the bed. He lifted the plate up, showing him what he had.

"Guess who sent ya some lunch?" Byron chuckled holding the plate out to him. A genuine smile spread across the boys face, lighting up the golden eyes and making him, if it was at all possible, even more attractive than before. He took the plate and eagerly picked up the, still warm, corn dog by the stick.

"How is Carlos today?" He asked, a serious look flashing over his features and freezing the smile away. Byron gave a strained smile and tried to lie.

"Ah! Well! You know Carlos! As long as his belly is full, he's fine!"

"He was crying again last night. I heard him." The beautiful boy took a bite from his food and then watched Byron's face intently as he ate, watching as Byron tried desperately to just shrug the question off. But he knew that James was perfectly aware of what happened to the little Latino in the VIP lounge. Too many times had Byron ended his nights work in Carlos' room, trying to sooth him from the pain and violence inflicted on his youthful body. Had he ever experienced anything other than that? Had he ever lain with another out of his own choice? Sadly, Byron didn't think he had. James had asked on numerous occassions why he was kept in virtual captivity, while Carlos didn't even wear a chain. If he worked in the VIP room, like Carlos, would he be allowed more freedom? But James would never be sullied by the sick bastards who tortured Carlos, he was being saved for a special performance. One that Byron hoped and prayed that he would never get to perform.

"He's OK. You know Carlos. He never complains." Byron shrugged, briefly unable to look the boy in the face. He glanced around the room as James quickly demolished the food on the plate. The television was on but the signal had been fixed to only receive music and cartoon channels and at the moment it was showing some kind of tween pop that Byron was kinda familiar with, he was more of a rock guy himself. James though, through all his melancholy, was wriggling his hips to the music as he sat finishing the last bits of food clinging to the stick, pulling it through his teeth scrapping off every last morsel. Byron turned back to him and smiled softly. Such a confusing boy.

"Was that OK? Or do you want some more?" James shook his put the plate on the bed behind him.

"Can I go out? No one came to take me outside yet today. Where is everybody?"

Oh God, boy! Please don't ask me that! Byron silently prayed.

"Where's Chrissie? Isn't he working today?"

Byron couldn't look him in the face. He would not be the one to tell the boy what had happened down in the basement. Not yet. It would break him and the lie was bad enough. The truth might emotionally cripple him and if he couldn't perform, he would no longer have a life here. And as much as Byron hated all of the things that went on here in the dark corners of this hell house, the thought of James being involved would break his heart. The boy was just too perfect for that. He needed his freedom. But Byron was just too scared to help him on his own.

So Byron gave a deep sigh, and just as he had with Carlos, he lied.

Of course James was hurt, but he gave a deep sigh and asked the only thing on his mind.

"He left? Without saying goodbye to me? I thought he was my friend!"

"It was a last minute thing, he always wanted to go to Europe, he told you." He was becoming more than your friend boy and that was the problem.

"Yeah. But I wanted to go with him. We were going to go together, when Griffin finally lets me go. " The boy's voice was strained as he fought not to cry.

"He had to go now. You can't. He said that he will write." Oh, James! Griffin will never let you go! Don't you understand that? James nodded sadly.

"Do you think he will write soon?" He asked as he sniffed back the tears threatening to fall.

"Oh yeah! I expect he'll miss you too!" Byron smiled, but inside he was sobbing. His heart breaking for this beautiful youth. His innocence blocking out all the ugliness in the world he inhabited, all the pain and downright evil. Deep in the bowels of the building a deep rumble resounded as the furnace burst into life. The boy tilted his head in surprise.

"I thought that they only lit the furnace on a friday?" He asked.

Byron just shrugged. "So. What do you want to do today?"

James slid off of the end of his bed and reached under his bed pulling out red pads with hand grips on them. He held the two smaller pads up and grinned.

"Bit of kick-boxing, yeah? He asked. Byron rolled his eyes, but nodded.

"Yeah! OK. " Oh, but.. Fuck! Chris normally helped him. What was he gonna do? Well he supposed that they could have a shorter session with just the two of them. Or he could get the new boy to help?

"Wanna let me get changed?" James inquisitively cocked an eyebrow and held up his chain. Byron turned and checked the door, even though he was sure that it was secure, before fishing in his pocket for the key that would unlock the chain from the thick leather collar around the boy's elegant throat. Once he was unfettered he crossed the room to his wardrobe and picked out a pair of black sweats, a black wife beater and an emerald green bandana. He dropped the clothing onto his bed and pulled off his t-shirt revealing a tone and muscular body with perfect abs and a treasure trail of fine hair disapearing into the waistband of his jeans. A small gold ring glittered on his pierced nipple. He was absolutely divine. He pulled the new top on before shimmying out of his jeans and dashing back across the room to find a pair of socks. He sat back down on the bed and pulled the black and grey striped socks on before slipping the sweat pants on and fishing his sneakers out from under the edge of the bed. Byron stood waiting by the door with his arms crossed, trying and failing miserably, to not watch the boy as he changed.

Once he was changed he stood and picked the bandana up from the bed and folded it until it was a suitable width to be tied around his head, his fringe floping over the fabric. He grinned at Byron, knowing that he found this particular item of clothing extremely amusing. As expected, Byron was shaking his head with a chuckle as James turned to face him. This was a regular interaction between them, their own special normality in the crazy world that they inhabited.

James stepped back, spreading his arms and tilted his head, glancing up through his long lashes, golden eyes sparkling .

"Yes?" His tone was teasing as he smiled up at the older man. Byron let out a laugh and shook his head as he stepped back towards the boy and picked up the free end of the chain again. He turned it over in his hands, letting the silver stream trickle through his fingers and not for the first time wondering what would happen if he was to let the boy escape. But as he stood there, the furnace in the basement let out another shudder and he was reminded of exactly what would happen. And he wasn't sure that he was ready for the consequences.

He returned his attention to the boy and his headwear.

"Why do you insist on wearing that stupid thing?" He reached up and locked the chain back in place on the collar before going to the head of the bed and unlocking the other end of the chain and gathering it up to a managable length.

"It's not stupid!" James laughed at him. "Bandanas are cool!" He declared as Byron unlocked the door and lead him out of the room and towards the staircase at the end of the corridor.

Downstairs, Kendall was sitting on a chair waiting for Byron to come finish telling him what his job involved. He heard the man on the staircase again and glanced up at him and was immediately reminded of his previous thought that men were not pretty. Because the guy following Byron down the stairs with the chain trailing from his collar most definitely was. Kendall had known that he was gay from his early teens and he had had a couple of relationships since he had left school but never had he been so instantly attracted to someone in his life. This guy was positively stunning and most definitely came under the 'pretty' tag. The collar was no surprise since he had seen Carlos' , but the leash was a whole different thing. It was actually quite an erotic thing to see such a pretty boy restrained in this way, he must be the boy from the other locked room.

Byron reached the floor and lead James over towards Kendall and he noticed that he was showing as much interest in the newbie as Kendall was in him. And that was not neccessarily a good thing.

"Kendall! You get to start work straight away!" Byron called as he came to a stop, the larger of the red pads in his hand. He held it out to the blond who took it but looked a little confused. "James here." He guestured to the chained god beside him. "Would like to go do some exercise in the garden. He likes to beat the shit out of these pads. And that needs two of us, so you get to help! Whoopee!" He dead-panned. Glancing to his side again he saw the way that James' eyes were boring into Kendall. Realising that Byron was watching he pulled his self away and flicked his eyes towards him instead.

"So, who is that? " He asked, fiddling with the pads he held in his gloved hands.

"Newbie. Gonna help out here, work the bar and help keep an eye on you and our little Latino friend." Byron gave a tug on his chain and drew him a little closer so he could get a better look at the blond. Ooh! Green eyes! James liked green eyes, Chris has green eyes. He smiled wide.

"Don't have to worry about me. I'm a good boy!" He pouted and Kendall felt a jolt in his groin as his body reacted to the overtly sexual tone of the boy's voice. Fuck! How was he supposed to work around him?

Byron took them through the club and out through a door in the far corner out to the garden. The water of the fountain sparkled in the afternoon sunshine as they headed over to the seat around the tree. Byron wrapped the chain around the tree and fastened the lock at the end before taking a seat. James began to stretch and flex his muscular body, loosening it up for the coming athletics. Kendall found that he couldn't help but watch. After about fifteen minutes James announced that he was good to go, and that was the exact phrase that he used, causing yet another jolt in the blond's cock as he got up and moved into position as Byron had advised. He had the large pad held across the side of his body and Byron had the two smaller ones. Before they began he unchained the boy to allow him the freedom for the moves his workout involved. James' hands clenched into fists and he began to bob and weave as Byron took up a defensive stance in front of him, pads raised, ready for the onslaught.

"Now take it easy with Kendall." Byron told James. "We don't know if he has any experience of this kind of thing and I don't want ya to hurt him before he actually officially starts work." He elegantly raised an eyebrow and James gave a chuckle before launching a flurry of punches on the pads in the older man's grip. Every punch was accompanied by a sharp hiss of breath as he synchronised his breathing to his activity. Kendal was impressed by his strength and stamina and so intenet on watching that the punches that he nearly missed it when James suddenly spun round, arms pulled into his chest and executed a violent kick to the pad in his grip. Kendall almost lost his balance but corrected it quickly, stepping backwards as James advanced on him, spinning and kicking with each leg in turn with a loud, 'Huh!' on each expulsion of breath.

Byron was watching them intently as they continued the work out, Kendall was quite obviously attracted to James and much as he would love for the hazel eyed boy to find love, he knew that it was not possible. Griffin, his boss, wanted James kept pure and untouched. Even the chaste little kiss that he had shared with Chris the previous day was more than was acceptable. Byron's shuddered as he thought about the fate that had befallen Chris. It was his fault. If he had just taken James back to his room himself instead of letting Chris deal with it so he could talk to his lover on the phone it would never have happened. He knew that they found each other attractive. He'd watched them openly flirt during rehearsals and work out sessions, but he'd never believed that Chris would be stupid enough to touch. James was used to the club and people leaving was not unusual, sometimes he missed people and sometimes he didn't. Byron knew that even though he would miss Chris for a while, he would soon settle into a new routine with Kendall.

His attention was brought back to now by James rushing him and bringing his knee up to contact with the pads he held. It always made him jump and amused the boy no end when he kept at it for the best part of twenty minutes untill James was flushed and sweaty. He stood, bent double, chest heaving, as he caught his breath. Byron flopped down on the seat around the tree and Kendall just stood watching for a while, then flopped onto the grass by the fountain.

"I suppose that I have to go back inside again now. Yeah?" James asked as he straightened up. His black top was stuck to his body so while he was unchained he peeled it from his flesh. Kendall had to turn his head away and bite his lip to stop himself from expressing his appreciation of the boy's body. The piercing surprised him, but he found it hot too.

"Yes. Go watch some more TV." James screwed his face up at that. He did that most of the day and it got kinda boring.

"Don't I need to rehearse today? There were some new moves that I wanted to try out." Byron shook his head.

"Really haven't got the time today. But I'm free all tomorrow afternoon, that do you?" He got up and walked over to the boy, trailing the chain behind him and pushed his chin up with the back of his fingers. James took a last deep breath and gave one curt nod.

"Yeah. That'll do. I suppose." James really didn't want to go back to his room. He threw his head back, taking one last chance to stare up at the azure sky before the only thing over his head would be the white ceiling of his room. Byron stroked his cheek with his fingertips, knowing that only he was allowed to get away with this as his touch was seen as almost fatherly affection and not driven by any sexual attraction at all. He tilted the boy's head to the side and re-attached the chain to his collar. He retrieved the other end of the chain from the tree and then gave a gentle tug and lead him back towards the building.

When they got back inside the club was no longer deserted. Bitters was over by the bar barking orders at two young men who were busy re-stocking the fridges with bottles of beer and soda. Another guy was checking the optics. Up on the stage, blond twins were running through their act. Caressing and grinding against each other to the music blasting out of the speakers in a way that was most inappropriate to their relationship. Byron told Kendall to take a seat again while he dealt with James. Although people muttered greetings as they past, Kendall noticed the way that some of them seemed to back away from the adonis on the chain. He hadn't seen any reason to be scared of him, even when he had been kicking the crap out of the pad that he had been holding against his own body. James was dragging that same pad behind him now as he reluctantly climbed the stairs.

They were halfway up the staircase when a party of people entered the club. A tall grey haired man strode towards them and called out to Byron. The man froze midstep before turning slowly to face them.

"Mr Griffin,Sir. I thought that you had left." Byron sounded nervous as he pushed his way back down the stairs past James.

"No, Byron. I went to lunch. I wanted to see how my Diamond was. " He waved his hand in the direction of the boy on the staircase. James didn't look much happier to see him than Byron did but he nodded politely.

"How are you James?" He asked, but the tone of his voice was not friendly. "I hope that you have been behaving yourself today. " He always behaved himself, aside from that one infraction that a normal person wouldn't have seen as at all wrong. "Byron! Do with have a new barman yet? I'd hate us to be short staffed."

Byron was at the bottom of the stairs now, but as he had hoped, James had not moved at all. The smile on Byron's face was obviously forced as he pointed to Kendall as he sat on the wooden chair waiting.

"This is Kendall." Griffin's eyes on him made the teen uncomfortable. "I'm just going to settle James back in his room and then I'm going to fill him in on his duties."

Kendall gave a tense smile, a huge african american guy behind Griffin was watching him intently too, he assumed the guy was a bodyguard. There was also a small oriental looking woman who was Griffin's secretary and a guy Kendall's kind of age with a shy smile and dark hair. Kendall supposed that he was cute, but he wasn't really his type. Griffin just nodded his approval.

"He'll do. Please make sure that he understands the limit's of his employment. " He went to turn to leave and Byron began to relax. Just as he started back up the starcase Griffin remembered something and called him back.

"Oh, yes! One thing else." Byron came back down to the floor and approached the man as he beckoned him closer. "How is Carlos?" He tilted his head and waited for the answer.

"Umm? Carlos is a little... Tired, sir. I believe that he was rather busy in the VIP lounge last night." Meaning, you know damn well how Carlos is. One of your sick friends fucked him until he could barely stand.

"So he won't be performing for a couple of nights?"

"He should be feeling better for Thursday night." Another two days to rest and the pain should leave his abused body.

"Ah! That will be perfect!" He turned and took the shoulder of the dark-haired boy and brought him closer to Byron who flicked his gaze over his form. "This is my accountant, Logan, and thursday is his birthday." Byron could guess what was coming and he was not impressed. The guy looked kind of young to be into the sick things that Griffin's friends liked.

"I would like you to make sure that Carlos is available after his performance to spent some time with him. He rather likes our little Latino friend and I think he would appreciate some one on one time with him. " Griffin smiled a smile that made Byron's stomach churn. He was such a sick bastard. Byron was suprised to see a shocked look on Logan's face. He seemed a little taken aback at what was being arranged, but he did not speak, just stepped back a little, biting on his bottom lip as he did. The bodyguard grinned and slapped him on his back, almost sending him flying from the strength of the blow. Logan looked round at him, but still stayed silent. It wasn't that he didn't want to get close to Carlos, he loved watching the boy with the caramel skin perform and he dreamt of touching him, but he was rather inexperienced and a little afraid.

"I expect you to stay with them. Make sure that Logan gets to enjoy his present to the fullest." He meant, make sure that Carlos was drugged enough to comply with any sick whim the other boy may have. Hold him down if he tried to get away from Logan and clean up any mess that resulted from the assault on the Latino's body. Byron hated being called on to perform this duty.

All he wanted to do was watch the boy's who willingly stripped and get a kick from performing himself. In all honesty, the boy with the chain was probably better off than half the boys who worked here. He never had to degrade himself in the name of his art. Even though his costume was barely there, his act was not as sexual as some of the boys and then there was the no touching rule. He had never been inapropriately touched and grabbed at and he had never had to entertain in the VIP lounge or even on the couches. And the worse that happened there was some kissing and caressing. If that had been all that was expected of Carlos he would have been happy to keep an eye on the two boys, but now it was just another thing to dread. He looked across at Logan. The shocked look was replaced by an expression that hid deep thought. Byron hoped that he was not thinking up ways to hurt the boy more than neccessary. Griffin gave one of his forced smiles and then turned on his heel calling sharply to his entourage and they made their way across to the office behind the stage.

He left James laying on his bed in his sweat dampened clothing with the promise that he would return later to take the boy to shower. He just nodded in response and stretched out with his hands behind his head and turned his face towards the television screen high on the wall. Byron stood in the doorway for a while, just watching, as the youth began to sing along with the music video on the screen. As he nodded to the beat the chain shifted and pooled on the floor beside the bed. He turned and watched it as the sound attracted his attention, then realised that Byron was still watching him.

"Aren't you supposed to be showing Kendall the ropes?" He asked. Byron would much rather tell Kendall to get out of the club and run. And if he had any sense he wouldn't stop running until he got as far away as possible. But Byron knew that he wasn't likely to do that, eager to stay in LA for whatever dream he was chasing. He would try to keep him as safe as he could, just like he did with 'his boys' that worked the club. He just hoped that it wouldn't quickly turn into a nightmare for him just like it had for others.

After finally leaving the golden eyed boy alone he went downstairs and finished showing Kendall how to work the bar. The two guys he would be working with tonight were school friends from New Mexico, Alyx and Lucas who had come to LA to go to college. Lucas was a slightly camp blond and Alyx was a muscular brunette with the most amazing baby blue eyes, they smiled when introduced to Kendall, but like most people here they hid darkness inside. Lucas had had big dreams of being on Broadway, instead he helped choreograph the acts, including James, not that he needed much help, the boy was a natural and only had to grind his hips to have the men in the club panting for him. Rather than explain things to Kendall himself, Byron decided to leave him in the more than capable hands of his workmates, chuckling as he left them after telling Lucas to keep more than capable hands off of the newbie's ass until he was sure that Kendall was up for it. Lucus batted his lashes at Kendall, pretty sure that he would soon get a chance to feel the guy up, especially when he was dressed in his uniform displaying it to the paying customers. Another thing for him to worry about. Strange things going on behind the scenes and a preditory colleague.

But Kendall was sure that he could handle himself. It was pretty easy work and he liked Byron and Carlos almost straight away. And then there was James. He didn't think he had ever been so instantly attracted to anyone in his life and he was eager to get to know him a little better. Even if he wasn't allowed to touch, he could still look couldn't he?

**_Read, enjoy and review! Luv and blessings Allie X_**


	3. Chapter 3

CAGED DIAMOND

_**A/N well a lot of this was written while I was waiting to go down to the operating theatre last weekend! Constructive way to use the time. I want to apologise for how long it is taking to get onto the good stuff! It will warrant a M-rating soon! I'm just really into background detail! Thank-you for my reviewers! Read and Review please! Allie )O(**_

Kendall arrived back at the club to start his first nights work at around seven thirty. He'd taken the time to grab a bite to eat and have a shower and give himself a quick trim down below. That had made him laugh at the stupidity of the situation, standing in front of the mirror with a razor in his hand. Now he was ready for the nine o'clock opening time. The club didn't look so dark now, Lights flashed on the outside of the building and the foyer lights were all on as he made his way round to the staff entrance at the back and slipped inside and made his way upstairs to the dressing room to change.

This time though the room was not deserted and as he opened the door he was confronted with the sight of Lucas' bare ass as he adjusted the front of his thong with his thumbs hooked through the string at his waist. As he felt the breeze of the door opening he turned to face Kendall with a cheeky grin. Behind Lucas, Alyx came wandering towards them, stark naked and absent-mindedly scratching his privates as he yawned wide. He gave Kendall a smile and a quick 'Hi' before making his way to the wall where uniforms and costumes hung on hooks with names above them. Kendall's name was scrawled in red biro on a piece of paper hastily taped to the hook holding his clothes. He stood there for a while, clutching the clothing, wondering if there was anyway of getting any privacy, but it was quite obvious that he was expected to pitch in and strip in front of his new colleagues. He turned to face the wall, away from Lucas and began to remove his t-shirt, the boy was still watching him he could tell.

"Ooh! Nice tatt!" The blond laughed as Kendall dropped his shirt, reaching his hand out to run his fingers over the circular design between his shoulder blades. Kendall involuntarily shuddered at his touch, though whether through pleasure or fear he couldn't really tell. Maybe a little of both. Lucas was cute but really not his type at all. He managed to take one more step towards the wall and out of Lucas' reach, then he began to unfasten his jeans. He supposed that there was really no point in making a fuss, so he just stripped everything off at once and reached for the leather thong. He knew that the eyes of both the other barmen were boring into him as he adjusted the tiny garment. It fitted better now after his earlier.. 'haircut'. He felt so nervous, his heart was pounding and his palms beginning to sweat. He slipped into the rest of his clothing and as earlier in the day he was having a little trouble with his cuffs. A now dressed Alyx came and took them from his hands and put them on for him, smiling at his obvious embarrasment. When he was finished, he took Kendall's hand and swung him around to view his attire from every angle.

"Hmm! Look's good on you, blondie! And a lot of the punter's love green eyes!" Kendall blushed fiercely.

"Oh and that is so cute! Guy working in a place like this that blushes at compliments!" That made him blush even more. Lucas joined them with an eye-liner pencil in his hand.

"Let's just make those lovely eyes pop a little more shall we? Tilt your head back a little for me and open your eyes as wide as you can."

Make-up? Kendall was not sure about that! But Lucas was not taking no for an answer and he felt the guy's finger on his skin below his eye. He pulled gently down and skillfully drew a thick black line on each lid and under the eye before moving on to the other eye.

"Ooh yeah! That makes you look hot! What do you think, baby? " He asked Alyx as the guy finished straightening his tie. Ah! Kendall thought, so these two were a couple? Alyx gave a smile and a nod of agreement, then leant over and gave his boyfriend a quick kiss. Then he tilted his own head back.

"My turn now." Lucas giggled and quickly made up the muscular youth's eyes, before stepping over to the lighted mirror and doing his own.

"Well! I think we all look delicious!" Lucas declared and Kendall just had to laugh at that. If he was honest, his sexuality had always made him feel alone in Minesotta. He had had very few gay friends or aquaintences around and he couldn't very well ask his straight friends if they thought another guy was hot, could he? If nothing else, these two were quite friendly. The twins that he had seen rehearsing earlier in the day arrived and began to get changed into their stage clothes. They were followed by a tall man in a suit who changed before Kendall's astonished eyes into a pretty blond drag queen. Also on the bill tonight was a contortionist and a gaggle of dancers who wore very little and bitched and giggled like a bunch of school girls.

When Byron arrived, he was already dressed, his position meant that he was afforded his own room and did not have to suffer the indignity of stripping in public. He was much more elaborately made-up now, his eyes sparkling with blues and purples and lashes thick with mascara. He was wearing tight black leather pants and a sheer top that laced over his pecs. He smiled as he worked his way through the throng to the young barkeeps.

"Are we ready then, boys?" He asked as he reached them. Both of the other boys nodded and Kendall assumed that he was probably as ready as he would ever be, He still crossed his arms over his chest and hugged himself though as he thought about it. Byron noticed and smiled kindly with his ruby painted lips.

"Nervous, Kendall?"The boy had been looking down at his feet, trying to calm those very nerves. He flicked his head up to look at the MC.

"Yeah. A bit." He tried a smile, but he had butterflies in his stomach.

"Don't worry. I'm sure you'll be just fine." He patted Kendall's shoulder reassuredly with his gloved hand. It didn't really make him feel any better but he appreciated it. Byron guestured towards the open door with his hand.

"After you."

Kendall took a deep breath and made his way out of the room and headed down the stairs with Lucas, Alyx and then Byron following behind him. At the bottom of the stairs there was now a velvet rope with a 'no entry' sign attached to it, stretched across the opening. The three young men took up their stations at the bar and Byron went off to the entrance to greet the patrons. Monday night was usually pretty quiet and it would allow Kendall to get used to working the bar before the craziness of the weekend arrived.

Kendall soon go the hang of his new job, it wasn't rocket science. He just needed to make sure he listened intently to the order and then remember what they had asked for as the music pounded through the club. Acts started to appear on-stage at around eleven-thirty, starting with the twins with blond spiky hair who bumped and ground enthusiastically, even though their dancing was not great. The appeal was their willingness to behave like that with each other. As expected, it was a pretty quiet night, the only VIP was an older man who came every week just to see Eddie and Jon, the twins. He would lavish them with praise and money while they sat with him on the leather couch and furiously kissed and caressed each other. Byron glanced down from the stage, watching what was happening and thinking how happy he would have been if this was all that VIP's expected from the boys in the club. As he watched the two on the couch he couldn't help but think of the boys upstairs. Carlos never worked this early in the week, he needed the time to get over what had been done to him by the VIP's he had performed for on the weekend.

As Byron stepped back behind the curtain for the dancers to take the stage, he glanced over to see how the boys were doing at the bar. Everything seemed to be going fine. The drag queen arrived at Byron's side and smiled at him as he watched the boys on the stage. After their act, they would make their way to the couches too, but few people came for anything serious this early in the week. Just a little entertainment and tittilation. The drag act would take over for an hour before Byron would need to be back on stage. He always used the time to go take supper to the two in the rooms above. He didn't have to, as Bitters always told him, there were staff who could do that. As he finally began to make his way back to the stairs, greeting staff and customers alike as he strode through the club, he decided to take Kendall with him again.

It could be difficult taking someone with him when he dealt with the boys. Some of them fawned over the beautiful brunette in a way that James found uncomfortable. Others just objected to the thought that the boys were locked into their rooms, Kendall hadn't seemed that worried about it, accepting it without question and besides, Carlos clearly liked him and it made a change for him to get a visitor who didn't want the boy's body. He made his way over to the bar.

"Hey Kendall? Come help me for a while?" The blond glanced at his co-workers as Lucas worked on an order. He nodded his head as he poured shots.

"We're pretty quiet. Me and Alyx have got it here." Alyx nodded his agreement as he stood up from getting a couple of bottles from the fridge. Kendall stepped round from behind the bar to join Byron, belatedly remembering that his bare ass was on display. The guy waiting for his drinks leant back to get a better view as Kendall walked past him. He blanched briefly as the guy complimented him on his fine ass and Byron chuckled and told him that he would soon get used to it.

When they got to the stairs, Byron opened the rope and stood back to allow the blond to go first. He gave the guy a slightly confused look.

"What? I missed seeing your ass properly earlier. Not gonna give up the chance to watch it now!" He grinned as Kendall stepped onto the stair and couldn't resist a playful slap on the cheek of the boy's ass as he passed him.

"Mmm! Yeah! You have got a nice ass! Learn to take compliments!" Kendall rushed up the stairs and Byron followed behind him, still chuckling. They got to the corridor above and Kendall waited for his boss to join him.

"What are we doing?" He asked.

"Feeding the boys again. Proper food though, not the crap they had a lunchtime."

"Carlos seemed to like it." Kendall smiled at the memory.

"Carlos loves corn dogs. I think he would eat them all day, if I'd let him. But, as I tell him, then he would become fat and spotty and I wouldn't love him anymore. So he only gets them as a treat." Yes, he thought, normally after a heavy night with a VIP as last night as obviously been.

They went to the kitchen where the chefs that cooked snacks for the customers had prepared a meal for Byron's two young charges. Tonight they had chicken, rice and vegetables. The younger of the two chefs rushed over with the trays and set them on the counter, then he disappeared for a moment before returning. He held up two tubs of icecream with a big grin on his face.

"Icecream!" He squealed and Byron smiled at his English friend. Sean knew when Carlos was in need of treats too. He put the tubs onto the trays, then added cutlery. Byron thanked him but Sean fake frowned back.

"What? No kisses for the cook?" Byron laughed, shaking his head, but leant in and placed a kiss on the man's cheek, leaving a slight lip-stick impression.

"Thank-you! Always nice to be appreciated!" Then he noticed Kendall waiting by the doorway.

"Oooh! Who is this pretty thing?" He asked.

"Kendall. And he's helping me with the boys," He picked up the first of the trays. "Come on, Kendall. We go see Carlos first." He handed the tray to the blond and followed him out of the kitchen to the locked room.

The little Latino was laying on his bed, just staring at the ceiling and fighting hard not to fall asleep before his meal came. He wore blue plaid boxers and a white wife-beater that highlighted his toned and muscular physique. He was really an attractive boy, His bare-feet were moving in time to the music drifting up from the floor below, lips moving silently to the words. He bolted upright when he heard the key in the lock. Sometimes, when the club was open like now, that wasn't a good thing and he felt a brief stab of fear. His face broke into a huge grin when he realised that it was just his dinner coming because, as usual, Carlos was 'starving'! He was pleased to see Kendall again. He liked visitors when they weren't going to molest him. He shuffled round and sat on the edge of his bed, having nowhere else to eat. His room was pretty sparse. Just his bed and a set of drawers for his clothes. There was a small compartment in the corner that held a sink and a toilet, the high shelf held his radio and a couple of teddybears. Hooks on the edge of the shelf held Carlos's costumes. A lot of spandex and fishnet in silver and gold, but very small amounts of fabric!

"What have I got!" He asked looking up into Kendall's face expectantly.

"Umm? Chicken." Kendall handed him the tray and he settled it on his lap.

"And Sean sent you icecream." Byron added, but the boy had already started to prise the lid from the tub. "Which you eat after your dinner, thank you. We're going to see James now. Be back in a while. OK?" Carlos sighed and put the icecream down and began to cut up his meat. Byron watched him for a while, in turmoil as always. He leant over and kissed the top of the boy's head, fingers rubbing circles in his shoulder as he did. The Latino just shovelled more food into his mouth and kept on chewing. Byron smiled softly to himself, but he could never stop the sadness he felt for this sweet, sweet boy. Leaving him locked in his room, they collected the second tray from the kitchen and then went to James' room.

Kendall stood with the tray, staring off into space as Byron unlocked the pretty boy's room, but the sight that greeted them as the door swung open soon had his attention. Music pounded from the television and James had his back to them as he danced to the rythym, hips pumping and grinding as he lost himself in the beat. After his earlier shower, he had changed into a wife-beater and loose, cotton pants that tied around his waist. All in white like the pure boy that he was. But his dancing was pure sex. Byron leant back against the door-frame, watching him as he performed for no-one but himself. He wondered who or what he thought about when he was alone like this. He glanced across at Kendall, he was staring and biting down on his own lip as he watched the beautiful youth move. He felt a jolt down below and frowned a little and tried to shift slightly without dropping the tray.

"Yes, he looks delicious." Byron dead-panned, his voice flat and lifeless. "But never, never touch him. For your own good." His voice broke the spell that the music had held over the brunette and James spun round to face them. He took a couple of breaths to clear his mind before smiling gently.

"Is it dinner time already?" He asked. His flesh was sheened in sweat, making him look like an even more sexual thing than before. As he moved, his chain rattled drawing attention back to it's exsistance. He flopped down onto his bed and stretched out briefly as he caught his breath, then he picked up the remote off of the pillow and turned the sound down. He slid back to the edge of the bed and pulled a little table towards him.

"Hey, Kendall. How's your first night going?" He smiled at the blond, oblivious to the quite obvious jump that the boy gave when he spoke to him. Kendall had been lost in naughty thoughts of what he would like to do with a supple, muscular body like James had. He felt himself blush slightly as he stepped forward and placed the tray down on the table.

"Yeah. Fine, I think." He mumbled . James looked down at the contents of the tray and a frown slid over his features.

"Ice cream?" He turned to look at Byron. "Just how much did they hurt Carlos last night then?" He knew that ice cream was one of the things that helped take his mind off of things when his body was in pain. Byron tried to look away, but the hazel eyes seemed to burn into his soul and he couldn't.

"No worse than normal. He's a tough boy." His voice turned cold. "I will not discuss this now."

"Why?"

"Because I said so!" He barked. " I will talk to you about it when we are alone." He flicked his eyes to Kendall who stood uneasily in the doorway. "Not. Now." James seemed to think about it for a moment before he nodded slowly and began on his meal.

Byron hated this. He sat down next to the youth and wrapped his arms around him, watching as the boy ate. He guestured to a wooden chair against the wall.

"Take a seat, Kendall. We'll stay with James for a while before we go back to our little Latino friend." He began to run his hand in soothing circles on James' back. He stopped eating and put down his cutlery, leaning into Byron's embrace. He knew that inside, Byron hurt almost as much as the boy's did. Byron's fingers ran up the chain to the collar, twisting the chain around his digits.

"My poor boys." He nuzzled against James' soft hair.

Kendall truely didn't understand why his brain was not telling him to get out of this place. But he wanted to stay. He wanted to be close to these people. In less than twenty-four hours he was having feelings he had never had before about the beautiful youth on the bed. And Carlos, Lucas, Alyx, Byron. He wanted to be with them.

After a few minutes, it was like the melancholy in the room had never been there. James carried on eating in earnest and Byron just carried on chatting to him like there had never been anything unpleasant suggested in the room. It was kinda wierd. Sitting chatting normally between the three of them while one participant in the conversation sat attached to his bedframe by a collar and chain. Kendall was curious about the collar and asked if it was ever removed. James shook his head.

"It's loose enough for me to wash under, but it never comes off. Neither does Carlos', if you were wondering. Mine will apparently be removed on my final day here, though I don't know when that will be. Mr Griffin says I am still his star, so I don't expect it to be anytime soon." He frowned at that, but didn't catch the pain that flashed in Byron's eyes. Poor, sweet boy. He didn't realise what was actually meant. Byron hoped that it would never come to pass. He shook it off and carried on chatting with the boy. He had noticed the way that Kendall watched James and hoped that this boy would have the sense to do as he was told. He hadn't really been a huge fan of Chris, the boy was much too camp for a stunning male like James, but he knew the boy cherished their growing friendship. If James had been free to be in a relationship, Byron felt that he would have been more than happy for Kendall to make a play for James. He didn't believe in wasting time. Too many lives here were far too short to worry about taking it slow.

The club closed at three am, there had still been quite a few drunken patrons to leave before they could shut up. Kendall had found that he quite enjoyed his job, the company and the music had been good. Lucas had a filthy mouth for quite a sweet looking boy, full of extremely rude comments and suggestions about patrons and colleagues alike. Alyx was actually quite reserved and it seemed that Lucas was the dominant one in their relationship. As they stood around for a while he snuggled against his partner, sharing lazy kisses between yawns. Time to go home and sleep, then come back tomorrow and do it all again.

Kendall followed them up the stairs to change back into his own clothing, too tired now to worry about being naked in others presence he just stripped and then slid back into his worn jeans and t-shirt. Byron popped in, just to check whether he could expect Kendall tomorrow or if he was going to run like a sane person would. But no. Kendall was hooked. Back out in the corridor Byron checked on the boys before heading home for the night. Carlos was curled in a foetal position, arms hugging himself, peaceful enough for now. The brunette next door was stretched out on his front, head turned to the side, luscious long lashes resting on his cheeks. He was moving slightly in his sleep, mumbling and jerking as his eyes moved under their lids. He suddenly rolled onto his back, moaning in his sleep, the tent in his pants clearly obvious as his tongue swept out over his lips and his body tensed. His lips curled into a smile and his lashes flickered as he twisted his body again, hips rolling as he lost himself in the fantasy of his dream. His body contacted with his rumpled bed-clothes and he let out a long shuddering breath, his hand gripped his pillow and he visably thrust against them. In his head, arms and legs tangled and lips met, tasting and teasing each other's eager mouth's. When the dream began, it had been his little camp friend, Chris that had been sprawled beneath him, but this was a dream and dreams had no basis in any form of reality. As they continued kissing, caressing and grinding together the form beneath him changed. Taller, more muscular with dirty blond hair, the eyes were still green but it was definitely no longer Chris that he was dreaming of. As Byron watched, his hips gave several quick sharp thrusts into the blanket and a soft whine came from deep inside the sleeping youth. He stilled completely for a moment before rolling onto his back, body shuddering slightly, damp patch clearly spreading across the groin of the shorts he wore to sleep in. He gave an audible sigh as he sank back into sleep. One word slipped from his lips as Byron backed out of the room and left him to his sleep.

"Kendall."


	4. Chapter 4

Caged Diamond

**A/N A quick thank you for the reviews! To all my reviewers - Thank You! I love reviews!**

It was gone eleven o'clock when Byron woke the next morning. There was an empty space next to him where the night before his young lover had lain beside him. Now he could hear Bill moving about down in the kitchen and singing loudly in his native german. He slid from under the covers and headed to the bathroom to shower. While he carried out his daily ablusions he began to map out the letters that he was going to write from 'Chris' to James and Carlos in his mind. While driving home the previous night he had worked out how to make letters to the two boys a reality. Bill had a brother who still lived in Cologne so it would be a simple case of posting the sealed letters to him and then he could post them back. They would arrive addressed to Carlos and James with a nice shiny German postmark, hence confirming that the other boy was in Europe. And not where he really was. Byron shuddered as he shut off the water to the shower though not from the chill air that washed over him.

Kendall was up and about too. Eating breakfast in a cafe a short distance from the apartment that he rented. It was not a very affluent area, but had quickly become home to musicians and artists of all types, that was how Kendall had ended up there. There was a notice board with pieces of paper with adverts of bands seeking vocalists, drummers, guitarists, people to make flyers for gigs. Kendall perused them as he ate his eggs and toast. But now, he had other things beginning to fill his head and a band didn't seem as important to him as it had the previous days. He found himself thinking about James, and to a lesser extent, Carlos. He liked the cute little Latino, but James was a whole different ball-game. He didn't think he had ever been so attracted to another guy in his whole life. James was beautiful in a way he could barely describe, Kendall got butterflies just thinking about him. The way his muscles flexed when Kendall had helped Byron with his kick-boxing session. The sweat gleaming on his body as he danced to the music on his television. He remembered also the massive hard-on that he'd developed the previous night as he lay in bed thinking about the day that had just passed. He felt a slight twinge between his thighs as he tried to shake off the memory of jerking off while thinking about the boy with the shaggy hair and stunning hazel eyes. He hadn't been able to shake off the memory off those eyes the night before and he didn't think he would be able to here either. He finished his meal quickly, leaving the money next to his plate and rushing out into the morning sunshine, hoping that no one would notice the tent in his jeans as he made his way back to his apartment a couple of blocks over.

Byron sat at the counter in his kitchen, sipping on a cup of coffee while he worked on the letters. The one to Carlos had been fairly easy as they had only been friends, but he was struggling slightly with James' letter. They had been much closer, all flirty looks and stolen moments. It needed to be innocent enough to pass if anyone else should read it, but with enough little hidden secrets shared to make James believe it was really Chris. He wouldn't expect open affection in the letter as he would think they were still hiding from Griffin. He wouldn't know the true author of the letters, but Byron hoped that his words would bring comfort the boy where, in truth, there was none to give. Bill padded up behind him as he wrote and wrapped his arms around his lover's body, nuzzling against his neck and placing a gentle kiss on his collar bone. Byron arched his head back slightly into the embrace, needing the closeness to take his mind off of what he had been doing.

"Baby." He whispered and twisted round a little more to meet Bill's lips, lifting his hand to tangle in his long, black dreadlocks. When they were like this, away from the club, and in each others arms, he could almost forget all the horror he had seen over the past few years. But then he would remember that the club was the very place he had first laid eyes on Bill. Laying on the same bed that Carlos now slept in and he would feel the scars on his back when he pulled his naked body to his and remember the ways that the guy had got them. Everything he tried to block out would flood back and all he could think of was getting the two boys out. Like he had Bill. But he had technically traded his own freedom for Bill's. He could not leave the club unless Griffin allowed it, and he had to turn a blind eye to all that went on for fear that the powerful man would try to reclaim what he considered to be his.

He broke the kiss, eyes fluttering as his lover came round to the front and climbed onto his lap, straddling his thighs and wrapping his arms around his shoulders, he tilted his head and studied Byron's face with a gentle smile. He looked down at the paper on the counter and twisted the letter to James around slightly to read what he had written. He nodded his approval as he put the letter back where it was before, embracing Byron a little tighter again. He gave him another quick kiss, rolling his hips as he moved closer.

"Alright, Liebling?" Byron took a breath and nodded in response, although inside he really was far from alright and Bill knew that. "Want to come lay with me for a while. You don't have to go to work yet, do you?" He gave a firm twist of his hips, rubbing himself to the growing bulge in Byron's pants. It was the one thing that could completely silence all his thoughts and fears. At least for a little while, And even a little while was better than nothing. He slipped from his stool, letting Bill drop from his lap to stand before him. He took hold of his hand and raised it to his lips and gently kissed his fingers before leading him from the kitchen to their bedroom and closed the door behind them.

Kendall arrived at the club for another day of work. It was just after lunch-time, he was to help re-stock the bar and then help Byron in anyway needed, he hoped that meant that he was going to see James again. He followed Lucas down to the basement to bring up some bottles of spirits. As they made their way to the storeroom they passed the open doorway of the VIP lounge. Lucas was used to seeing it, so just passed by without a second thought, but the contents of the room drew Kendall's attention and he stopped dead and gazed into the room. There was a leather couch like the ones up in the club and a bed with chains and cuffs attached to all four corners. The walls were lined with paddles and whips, chains and scarves. There were objects on shelves that Kendall had no idea what they were and hoped that he would never have cause to find out what they were. The room had quite obviously just been cleaned as everything was shiny and tidy, he didn't like to think about things that happened in there. Considering Carlos' obvious discomfort after his evening in this very room he never wanted to experience it. Lucas stopped and watched as Kendall took in the room.

"We don't need to worry about what happens in there." He came to Kendall's side and pulled the door closed. "Come on. If we aren't back before The Diamond comes to rehearse, they will shut us down here and that's boring." Then his face twisted into a cheeky grin. "Though I suppose that we could always find ways to kill time!" He ran his fingers over Kendall's bicep. "Mmmm! I like muscles! Though you could probably tell that from my boy, yeah?" He pulled his fingers back without being asked, he was only teasing! He turned sharply and went down yet more steps and started pulling out bottles and standing them in a group, ready to be taken upstairs. Kendall finally joined him, even though his mind was still racing about what went on in that room. They both filled their arms with bottles and made their way back up to the bar. While they were slotting the new bottles into the optics he heard the chain sliding over the steel steps of the spiral staircase. Glancing up, he saw Byron making his way down with James trailing behind him. Kendall felt his breath catch as he watched the boy decend the last few stairs to the ground. Yes. It wasn't his mind playing tricks on him, James really was as beautiful as he remembered from the previous day. Dressed in sweats and a t-shirt with the club's name emblazoned on it, he had come down to rehearse on the stage. That meant that he would have to be released from his chain and that meant that the club had to be secured. No-one would be able to enter or leave the club for the next couple of hours while James was performing. The same happened when he actually performed on a Saturday night, it was part of the experience. Griffin was not in the club today, but another bouncer, even bigger than the one that travelled around with him was there to take care of James' security. The difference was that this guy did not have a taste for interacting with the boys in the club and was always pretty free with his smiles. As he passed from locking the door out to the garden onto locking the entrance to the basement he greeted Byron and James warmly. James paused, looking around himself as Byron prepared to let him loose, taking the key from his inside pocket.

It had surprised the golden eyed boy when he woke up with the product of his vivid dream drying on his body. He did get aroused and he wasn't adverse to a little self pleasure, late at night, when the building was empty except for him and Carlos and the night-guard. But he hadn't had an episode like the one he had had last night for a long time. Not even Chris had caused him to have wet-dreams, but Kendall was an entirely different thing. Maybe it was because Kendall didn't 'look' or 'act' gay? I mean, he had made it pretty clear with his looks and smiles that he was, but he wasn't in any way camp or openly lusting after other guys. He actually seemed a little shy when it came to that kinda thing. He blushed at compliments and didn't really seem to be completely comfortable with the way the others interacted with each other. But James liked him and hoped that he liked him back. He smiled in Kendall's direction giving him a quick little wave before crossing the space between himself and Byron and waiting patiently to be released.

Once the huge guard had signalled that the club was secure Byron stepped closer to the boy and set the key in the lock on his collar. Turning the key with a sudden 'click' the lock popped open and the end of the chain dropped to the floor. Byron gathered the links up over his arm and brought them over to the bar and left the chain there while he made his way towards the stage, tucking the key away back in his inside pocket as he did. James took off, running round the club like a dog let loose in a park, laughing as Byron watched him, shaking his head and eyes flicking shut as he chuckled to himself. James' youthful exhuberance was amusing if it didn't concentrate too hard on how accurate the dog off of his leash analogy was. After two circuits of the space he made his way over and climbed up onto the stage. He dropped down onto his ass and spread his legs out in front of himself, leaning forward to grasp his ankles, stretching and loosening muscles. He turned his head, watching his own body as he bounced slightly as he warmed up. Either side of him on the stage silver poles have been raised and locked into position. James' act did not actually involve him removing his clothing, he was not exactly a stripper. James was an 'exotic' dancer and he worked the poles. Sitting up a little he clasped his hands together and stretched them over his head, flexing and twisting slightly until he felt that he was ready. He stood and stepped towards one of the poles, leaping up to grasp the cool metal as he spun around the pole before passing quickly to the other and circling it in the other direction. When he landed again he loosened his shoes and kicked them away off of the front of the stage. He stepped back to one pole, he reached over his head and grasped it behind his body, muscles flexing as he lifted himself from the ground, spreading his legs out before him , before he twisted himself up and wrapped his legs around the pole. He released his hands, sliding quickly towards the ground, face first. He tightened the grip of his thigh muscle and stopped dead, suspended in mid air. His face showed his extreme concentration as he grasped the pole before him again and twisted his body over, feet touching the floor as he let go of the pole and came to his feet. He grinned at Byron as the older man watched his graceful movements.

"What music do you want today?" Byron asked as he made his way back to where the music system was. James stretched a little more, wriggling his hips as he bent over and grasped his ankles again. He seems to consider the possibilities, he has about a dozen different routines, but he has a new one that he is yet to perform in public that he is still trying to work the kinks out of.

"Umm? Bring me to life?" He answers and Byron nods agreement as he finds the disc and puts it into the machine. He grasps the pole and slowly walked around it as the music begins to fill the room.

Kendall had been busy with his job, trying not to be distarcted by the brunette on the stage. As the music began to fill the air, he recognised the beautiful other worldly, almost operatic vocals and had to look. The begining of the performance, to the slower part of the song was not a problem and James didn't feel the need to work too much on that. He just stalked the stage between the two poles executing leaps and twists as he did. He looked amazing, so strong, so elegant, so beautiful, so sensual. Such a sexual being. The way he wrapped himself around the pole, eyes fluttering shut as he began to lose himself in the music as he always did. Kendall knew that he was staring, but as the beat picked up and James' movements became more frenetic he couldn't help it. The boy pulled himself to the top of the pole, spinning and gyrating, hips pistoning against the smooth metal. His eyes flashed under the lighting, his face flushed as he moved faster. He dropped from the pole, spinning quickly to the second and sprinting up the pole before twisting out, briefly holding his body horizontal, suspended in mid-air, the muscles in his back and shoulders flexing as they supported his full body-weight. It was impressive, but the way he moved in time to the music was more than a little erotic. Kendall could totally see how someone could get off on watching James perform like this. His own body had begun to pulse with desire in response to the beautiful young man before him.

James grabbed the bar behind him again and was suspended as if he was just leaning against a wall behind him, one knee bent, foot resting against the cool steel. He turned his head and looked straight into Kendalls face, he was pretty sure that the blonde was enjoying his performance. But he lost his concentration as he looked into Kendall's green eyes and his grip loosened and he slid quickly down the pole, hitting the floor quicker than he expected and crumbling to the ground. He cursed loudly and shook his left hand out where it had twisted slightly. Byron paused the music and sprang to his side, but he was back on his feet and scurrying back up the pole again before he even reached him. He paused there, gripping the steel with hands and feet, breathing a little heavier as he recovered himself. He looked at Kendall who had also found himself dashing forward when the youth fell and grinned as he raised an eyebrow. Hmm? So Kendall was worried when he fell? Was the attraction he felt for the blonde mutual then? He hoped so. Kendall felt a little silly for the way he had gasped and ran forward, but the dazzling smile that James graced him with made his heart thump a little harder in his chest. He turned and walked back towards the bar, a rueful look on his face as he saw the look that Lucas was giving him. He shook his head and patted Kendall's shoulder as he arrived back at the bar. He kept his back to the stage, but when he heard James call to Byron to start the music again, he couldn't help but turn back to watch as he continued running through the difficult moves. This time he had no problems with the moves. Twisting and climbing the metal pole, wrapping his long limbs around the pole, hips thrusting and rolling in time to the music. How much would Kendall like to be that particular inanimate object?

Byron had stepped back to the edge of the stage, watching as James performed intently. His own body gyrated to the music as he watched, lips moving silently to the words of the song. When James was like this, so lost in the music, his own movements and wherever his mind went when he was performing, Byron could almost forget that he was a prisoner here. Griffin's property. A virtual slave. If it wasn't for the leather locked tight around his throat, he looked like any other performer. But Byron had to accept that was not the case. As the song reached towards it's conclusion there was a line of lyric that he hated more than anything. And as James' lips moved to the words, Byron's own stopped moving as he contemplated them. The look that the boy gave him spoke of things he never wanted to acknowledge that the beautiful youth understood about the intended end-game for his residency here. As James twisted down the pole back to the ground he seemed to look directly into Byron's heart. Lips forming the words he dreaded hearing from him one day.

_"Don't let me die here"_

The hazel eyes connected with Byron's blue and the older man shivered as he stepped back into the shadows. Poor sweet boy. Someone help him save him.

_** So now you know what James' speciality is here at the club! This chapter is a little shorter than before but interesting things are coming, I promise! **_

_**Please read and review! Until next week! Allie x )O(**_


	5. Chapter 5

Caged Diamond

_**A/N decided to split this scene into two. So after a lot of description and slightly boring stuff (LOL!) the next chapter will be Logan's VIP night with Carlos and that should be quite...Mmmmm! Thank-you for all the reviews! Much appreciated and I will thank you by name next chapter, I promise! **_

Kendall quickly slipped into a routine with his new job. Get up, get washed and dressed, go to the cafe for breakfast, rush back to his apartment. Jerk off to the thought of seeing James again, then get changed. Again. Have a bite to eat and then go to the club to begin work. He continued to accompany Byron when he took Carlos and James their evening meal, even on Wednesday when it was a little busier. It was the first time that he saw some real action going on on the VIP couches. A young stripper named Justin treated a middle-aged business to a lap-dance before leading the man downstairs to the VIP lounge to continue the kisses and caresses that they had begun on the leather couch.

He performed another first himself that night too. Taking a tray of drinks through the crowd down to some patrons sitting near the stage watching as a troup of six matching blondes stripped and danced and simulated sex between them. He had began , just about, to become used to the comments and whistles about his bared behind by now, but still the idea of walking through the crowded club like that was a little scary! He got to the couch without incident and leant down to place the tray of beers and shots on the table. The guys sitting there did not even seem to notice him and he quickly turned to leave, jumping when he felt a hand land on his ass cheek. And stay there. He had been told to never be rude to patrons, so even though his first reaction was to punch the guy, he didn't, instead staying frozen to the spot as the guy began to stroke and squeeze at Kendall's flesh. He was at a loss of what to do, but out of the corner of his eye he saw a tall, dark figure striding towards them. Kendall turned his head and gave a half smile to Byron as he approached. Byron looked pissed but he gave the stranger a sickly sweet fake smile.

"Good evening, Jett." He reached and grabbed the guy's wrist, wrenching his hand away from Kendall's butt. "Can I just remind you, yet again, that it is not permitted to touch the staff?" The guy pulled his hand back and laughed in Byron's face, but the MC did not loose his calm demeaner.

"So sorry." Though he did not look in any way sorry as he reached for one of the bottles Kendall had just brought to the table. "But, if you will insist on them having so much supple, young, creamy flesh on display, you can't blame a guy for wanting to have a feel, surely?" Byron truly hated this ass-hole. "And where is the delicious young Carlos tonight?" He asked, "We had a lot of fun on Sunday!" He chuckled. Byron's eyes grew dark. So Jett had been the sadistic bastard who had caused Carlos so much pain this week? Why didn't it surprise him? How he wanted to smash that smirk right off of his face.

"Carlos is not performing tonight and tomorrow he is already booked." Yes. Some other perverted bastard would inflict their sick desires on the little Latino. And Griffin's young accountant looked so normal!

"Ah well! I'm sure I shall be able to have some time with him again soon." He grinned into Byron's face, knowing how much he was pissing the man off. "Oh! And blondy? Kendall had been standing there nervously, unsure of whether he was permitted to leave yet. He turned, not really keen to meet the man's eyes. Jett reached into his wallet and removed a ten dollar bill and tossed it into Kendall's face. He flinched, then watched the note flutter to the ground. He knew that Jett just wanted to make him bend for the money so that he could humiliate him a little further. Byron saved him though, crouching down and retrieving the bill and slipping it into the blond's shaking hand. "He whispered in the boy's ear telling him he had handled the situation well and to make his way back to his post at the bar now. When he turned to leave, of course, Jett got a full view of his bared ass again and called after him.

"You know, you can make a lot of money if you loosen up and let people have a feel!" Kendall shuddered and just kept walking. When he got to the bar, Alyx was watching for him to return, looking a little anxious. he rushed to Kendall's side as soon as the blond got back behind the bar.

"Aww! Man! I'm so sorry! I didn't realise that Jett was with them. What did he do?" Kendall just shook his head and began to work on an order. He glanced back down towards the couches and saw that Byron was still there, no doubt still reminding Jett of the rules. He suddenly nodded sharply at the guy and swung round and strutted away from the couch and headed back towards the bar. Behind him the boys were still bumping and grinding and Jett had turned back to watch them.

Alyx did not push Kendall on what had happened, and anyway, what had upset Kendall more than the touching was the discovery that Jett had been the one to use Carlos in a way that had caused the golden skinned boy so much pain.

Thursday came around far too quickly for Byron. Tonight was the night that he would have to sit in and oversee Logan's VIP birthday present with Carlos. He hated that particular task, it was part of his job to make sure that the boy complied with every sick request that was made of him. He had to sit there while the Latino was used and abused and listen while he cried and pleaded for mercy and help that Byron was not allowed to give. He knew that Griffin got a kick out of knowing how much it tore Byron up to have to witness what was done to the boy. And tonight was going to be particularly bad. Normally, Carlos was drugged and prepared with numbing treatments that made him unable to fight back at what was done to him. But, as a 'special' treat for Logan he had forbidden their use on Carlos on that night. He'd also relaxed the twenty-odd rules that there were about use of boys in the VIP area, except for number twenty-three.

_No activities that the intention is to cause the death of the submissive. _

Carlos was not submissive. There was nothing submissive about being bound and forced. Byron was truly scared for the boy, most of the rules covered things that were really sick, blood letting, burning, biting, defecating, scarring, choking and it was easy for things to be pushed to far. He wouldn't be the first boy to die when the restraints of the rules were removed. When Byron took him his lunch he did not take Kendall with him, even though the boy was in the building. Carlos was not his usual bouncy self, he was perfectly aware that after he left the stage that coming night he would yet again be expected to be the outlet for another persons lust and desires. He was quiet as Byron watched him eat the corn dogs that he had brought him. Byron did try to talk to him, but he was not really interested. Byron left him for a while but came back and gave him a glass of water and some pills. He might not be able to stop the boy's pain, but at least if he was high, it might not be such a torment for him. If he took them now he would be a little relaxed but not enough to be unable to perform. He held the pills in his hand and stared at the water in the glass.

"Do you know who I am getting tonight?" He asked turning the pills over between his fingers. He glanced up at Byron, his eyes showing his fear.

"Yes." The older man replied.

"Is it Jett?"

"No. It's not Jett."

"Good." How could either of them tell if that was a good thing? Considering the requests that the man had already made. "They've dropped the rules, haven't they? That's why I am getting these, isn't it?" He held the pills up in front of Byron's face. The man blanched. Where was his sweet, happy boy? He leant forward and placed a kiss on top of the spikey black hair. He nodded against him and fought to hold himself together.

"Yes."

"Who is he then?" He asked his voice flat, a slight waver in it as he considered what was going to happen.

" I don't know if you know him. Griffin's accountant. It's his birthday." He spat out. Carlos seemed a little surprised, he had noticed Logan at Griffin's table a couple of times, at least he thought that was him.

"The young guy?"

"Yeah."

"I've seen him watch me, really closely." Carlos finally put the pills in his mouth and washed them down with the contents of the glass.

"Do you think I'm going to die tonight?" He turned his sad, chocolate eyes up to regard Byron's horrified expression, wanting the man to reassure him, tell him that he was going to be fine. But in all honesty, Byron could not answer that. What he hoped and what would actually happen could be two entirely different things and he really didn't have all the answers.

"I promise that I will do all that I can to keep you safe."

"If I was safe, I wouldn't be getting raped tonight would I?"

Byron wanted to scream, drag Carlos out of the building and set him free. but where would he go? This was the only life he knew, he knew no one outside of the club and Byron was pretty sure that the youth would have a hard time looking after himself. How long before he was back in the same kind of situation? Or worse? Carlos downed the contents of the glass and handed it back to Byron, completely ignoring the tears that had began to stream down the older man's face. He climbed onto his bed and curled up facing the wall, giving a deep sigh and closing his eyes to await the pills in his system begin to take effect. Byron spoke his name softly and he turned sharply, hate in his eyes.

"What!" He barked.

"I'll come back later when it's time to get ready for tonights performance." He leant over and gently rubbed the boy's shoulder. After a few seconds Carlos relaxed into the comfort of his touch. It really wasn't Byron's fault what was done to him and the guy was always there to take care of him after he'd had a particularly rough night. Not all the VIP's hurt him intentionally like Jett did, perhaps tonight wouldn't be too bad? He just had to wait and see what happened. He brought his hand up and gripped Byron's hand tightly, stilling it's movements on his flesh. His eyelids fluttered and he found himself slipping into sleep.

"Love you." He whispered to the weeping man. Byron took a shuddering breath and bent to kiss the caramel cheek.

"And I love you, my sweet boy." A smile flickered on Carlos' face briefly before he snuggled tighter to the bed and let sleep take him before the uncertainty of the night came.

Kendall and his workmates were at their positions at the bar, it was the busiest night so far this week. some people obviously starting their weekends a little early. Kendall was not really paying a lot of attention to what was going on on stage as he was far too busy, but when he heard Byron starting to whip the crowd up for Carlos' performance his curiosity was piqued. He wanted to see how the sweet boy with so many child-like qualities could possibly arouse anyone with his act aside from some serious perverts. But as Byron had said, Carlos was not a child. He slid onto the stage, dressed all in metallic gold, tight shorts that left nothing to the imagination and straps and ties over his upper body which kinda blended in with his collar and showed off an impecably formed body, all firm pecs and tight six-pack.

As his music began he dropped down onto all fours and began to stalk towards the front of the stage, ass rolling from side to side to the beat as he advanced. He whipped his head up, staring out at his audience with eyes still clouded by the drugs in his system. But, oh! The look on his face! Even Kendall found it arousing, and until that point he had only seen Carlos as an excitable little boy! He lifted himself up onto his knees and began to roll his hips, body dropping back and fingers ghosting over his fabric covered groin. The vocals began and Kendall recognised the tune, ET by Katy Perry. Holding onto his own sex the boy circled his hips coming back up and then leaping somehow from his knees to his feet and spinning away to the single silver pole positioned for his use. He gripped the metal with both hands and dropped his hips, grinding against the pole, his back to his audience who howled for his ass as he pumped his ass faster before returning to the controlling beat. He began to remove the straps, hips move all the time, feet moving to the rythym, tongue sweeping out over his sweet lips.

Kendall brought his attention back to what was happening at his end of the club and when he saw who was propping up the bar he found himself giving a little involuntary shudder. Griffin's young accountant, Logan, was leaning back against the bar, cooly sipping on his drink, eyes hungrily watching the boy on the stage. He was completely lost in the music and watching Carlos' sensual movements. His blue jeans were showing the extent of his arousal as he shifted his hips subconsciously as he thought about what was going to happen later in the evening. Carlos would make two performances tonight and then he would be allowed to shower and get changed. He was meeting Logan in his own room and not in the VIP room, in a way it was better for him. He wouldn't have to struggle up two flights of stairs if he was in pain. But then again, once they were locked in it would just be the two of them, Byron would be there, but he wasn't supposed to help him. But would the man really stand back and let anyone cause mortal injury to the young Latino and not help? Kendall carried on concentrating on his work, but still finding himself curious about the performer on the stage. By the time he looked up next, Carlos had removed all of his straps and was touching his body and encouraging the clients on the VIP couch to step up and touch his abs and pecs for themselves. Kendall actually found it quite nauseating. The other boys here seemed so much more mature than Carlos, even if they were actually younger, and seeing his little friend being pawed by random men did not sit well with Kendall. The boy moved away from the edge of the stage and twirled around the pole by one hand while the other began to slide the shorts down his tightly muscled thighs. His audience howled their appreciation as he rolled his hips, the shiny fabric slipping over his groin and revealing his cock covered in the tiniest piece of spandex that Kendall have ever seen considered as clothing! He threw the shorts to the side of the stage and then returned himself to his pole and began to twist and thrust against the cool metal . He had a perfect ass as he dropped and swung his hips side to side, a tiny ribbon of fabric just about covering his hole. He looked back over his shoulder and licked his lips, fluttering his lashes and earning appreciative whistles and screams from his audience. Such a little tease! Kendall shook his head and turned back to his job. Lucas was beside him and touched his arm and shouted in his ear over the pounding music.

"You know, I think he really enjoys being on stage. If it wasn't for the VIP's I'm sure he would be very happy with having a career in this kinda place."

Kendall gave a little smile and a nod as Carlos worked himself up to his finale, climbing high up the pole to twist and flip, before landing and sliding to his knees at the front of the stage again to rapturous applause and people dashing forward to slip bills into the waistband of his thong. He lay on his back, chest heaving and his hands crossed protectively over his groin. He might like the attention but he really didn't like to be touched 'there' by random strangers. After a few minutes when the money and applause ceased Byron stepped out onto the stage beside him and helped him to his feet. Carlos gave a last low bow to his audience and dashed from the stage. He waited in the wings while Byron introduced the next act before coming back to take Carlos up the back stairs so that he could get chnged for his second performance. He would be allowed to keep the money that he collected, although there seemed little point. He was a prisoner here and never really got to spend it. When he got back to his room, he pulled the money from the string and dropped it onto his bed, another fifty dollors or so to go with the several thousand that he already had tucked away in a 'keep my secrets' teddy bear high up on his shelf. He gathered the bills together and rolled them into a tube as Byron got the bear down for him to slip the money inside. it was getting rather a tight fit now.

"I think you're going to need a new one of these soon." He laughed as he zipped the pocket up and placed the toy back in it's place. Carlos gave a sad little smile and nodded.

"One performance closer to my VIP." He was not happy about it and he made no attempt to hide his fear. Byron couldn't really think of anything to say so he just stepped closer to the almost naked youth and wrapped him in a tight embrace. Even with the drugs still fizzing through his bloodstream, Carlos was very down tonight, he truly believed that tonight could possibly be his last night on the earth. He rested his head against Byron's half covered chest and stayed in silence, eyes closed listening to the gentle thump of Byron's heart beneath his ribcage. Byron gently stroked his fingers down the golden boy's spine.

"Byron?" He looked up at the older man with eyes like pools of molten chocolate.

"Yes, my friend?" Carlos took a deep breath before answering.

"If anything happens to me tonight..."

"Hey! Hey! Don't think like that! I'm going to protect you!" Carlos lifted his hand and shushed him, placing his index finger on the ruby red lips.

"Listen to me! Please?" He pleaded softly and Byron stopped his rant and nodded softly.

"OK."

"If something happens to me, get James out of here. I don't know how. But take the money and get that boy the fuck out of here! And you! Get as far away as you can! Never come back! Promise me!"

Byron nodded frantically, not liking this defeated sounding boy. Carlos would not be dying here tonight. Not if he had anything to do with it. He grabbed the boys chin as he continued to babble his demands, cutting his rant short and tilting the boys face to his.

"Calm down! I promise! OK?" Carlos gave a tiny tight smile and a sharp nod of his head. "You are not going to die! You hear me? Not tonight! Not ever! Not until you are a twisted old man who still looks half his age!" Byron smiled wide and Carlos seemed to relax slightly in his arms. He couldn't tell whether the boy truly believed him, but at least he seemed to have calmed a little. With a last tight hug, Byron released him from his embrace. Carlos gave a deep sigh and then crossed the room to bring his costume for his next performance down from it's hook. Settling back on the edge of his bed he reached to untie the string of his thong.

"You OK now?" Byron asked as he slid out the door. Carlos nodded and smiled, but his heart was still thudding in his chest as he thought of the possibilities of the coming night.


	6. Chapter 6

Caged Diamond

_**A/N So sorry that there was no new chapter last week. I've been in hospital again and it is rather throwing me out of sorts :( Hopefully I am back on track now! Here is Logan's VIP experience with Carlos! Please R&R!** _

By the time Carlos was onto his second performance of the evening, Logan had moved down to sit on one of the VIP couches by the stage. Logan didn't really drink much usually so even though he was only on his second drink of the night he was already feeling the affects of the alcohol. His eyes were shining with lust as he watched the Latino go through a more traditional strip-tease. He came on stage dressed as an LAPD cop and then preceded to slowly remove every item of clothing until he was dressed only in a pair of tight white could barely believe that tonight, he would finally finally get his hands on the boy that he had been lusting after virtually since the day that he had started working for Griffin. He watched as others touched and tipped the boy but stayed glued to his seat. He was gonna be getting a whole lot closer real soon! He half watched the last act of the evening and then sat listening to the DJ that took over after the live show finished. His stomach was full of butterflies from his anticipation. Finally he saw Byron striding across the dance-floor, heading straight for him. He downed the remainder of his drink in one gulp and stood to meet him, hand running nervously through his dark hair. Byron's smile was not genuine, that was pretty obvious, but he extended his hand and politely shook Logan's before turning and leading him to the staircase. Upstairs, Carlos was awaiting his fate.

On occassions like this, with pre-booked VIP sessions the clients were given a form to fill in with any special requests that they may have. Some liked their boys to be already naked or bound and gagged ready when they arrived or dressed in a particular outfit. Under 'special requests' Logan had written - 'Attire. Jeans and a wife-beater.' So Carlos was sitting on his bed in blue jeans and a pale blue top. His feet were bare and he was swinging them slowly and watching their movement intently, head tilted towards the floor. He heard Byron dragging a chair across the corridor seconds before the sound of the key in the lock. He took a deep breath and crossed himself, silently sending a prayer to a deity that he was no longer sure exsisted, or if he did, didn't care for boys like Carlos.

Byron smiled softly at him, trying hard to block out the possibility of some real damage being done to his young charge tonight. Carlos did not smile back, instead flicking his cold gaze to the youth who followed the MC in and then stood waiting as Byron re-locked the door. He positioned the chair below the shelves then turned to Logan.

"Would you like some music?" He asked.

Logan looked utterly terrified, which surprised him, but eventually he managed a nod, if not words. This was a little strange. The boy was not behaving like the normal type of VIP at all. Byron turned on Carlos' radio and found some random all music station and then settled himself down on the chair. He waited anxiously to see how this was gonna go. Carlos himself just sat there, staring at the other boy with eyes still full of fear. But there was something going on here that neither he nor Byron completely understood. Finally Logan took a step towards the bed.

"Can I start now?" He asked Byron, guesturing to the boy on the bed.

"Yes." His voice was flat and somewhat cold.

"Mr Griffin said that I have the rules removed. Yes?" Byron gave a tight nod.

"Yes." You sick little fucker. A soft smile broke over Logan's face as he glanced at Carlos before turning back to face Byron.

"Rule twenty-one?" Carlos' head whipped up quickly and both he and Byron stared at the boy.

"Rule twenty-one?" Byron repeated slowly. You gotta be kidding him!

Logan nodded enthusiastically with a rather cute little grin. Carlos' heart had begun to thump in his chest for a whole different reason. Relief.

"The only rule that I actually wanted removed. But I couldn't tell Griffin that! I don't think that he would approve!" Byron was shocked by this revelation and Carlos began to laugh almost hysterically. Rule twenty-one was stupid. Rule twenty-one forbade something that was actually allowed on the VIP couches.

_Rule twenty-one. No kissing of the submissives. (Anywhere on the body)_

Logan arrived at the bed and sat down next to the Latino. This was a whole new experience for Carlos too and he watched intently as Logan nervously bit his bottom lip before sliding round to face him and slowly moving to wrap his arms around the bare, golden skin of Carlos' shoulders. He let his fingers glide across his back, enjoying the feel of the heated flesh and slowly lowered his lips to meet Carlos'. He nipped gently on the boy's lips, trying to coax out a response from the God in his arms, but this was such an alien feeling for the Latino. Gentleness and affection with no sign of a desire to inflict pain. Even when he managed to get the other boy to part his lips so that he could plunder his warm mouth with his own tongue he was not unduly rough. Sliding slowly around, exploring every last inch of Carlos' mouth. Carlos actually felt kinda bad that he was not getting as much from the kisses as Logan clearly was. He was moaning softly as he moved gently over the other boy's lips, breathily whispering as he finally pulled back from Carlos' mouth. He began to trail little kisses down the Latino's chin, down to place kisses on his Adam's apple before moving back up his throat and neck before kissing and nibbling gently on the lobe of Carlos' ear. Even without the boy responding as he would have liked, it was still a dream come true for Logan. Byron was finding it pretty hard not to stare at what was happening on the bed, the complete polar opposite of all the horrors that he had imagined happening over the last few days.

Carlos was sitting there, just quietly accepting Logan's passionate attention when he moved up to nuzzle the Latino's neck. Lips gliding up to his sweet spot behind his ear and sucking gently. Carlos finally found his body responding strongly, eyes fluttering shut as a deep, shuddering groan slipped from his lips. His hand subconsciously lifted and gripped Logan's arm, pulling him closer. But the boy pulled back and watched the beautiful face before him, red lips parted as he panted softly and eyes flicking open to see why the other boy had stopped just as he was finally feeling something. Logan smiled as Carlos stared into his eyes in confusion.

"You like that?" He asked. He continued to watch the other boy for a while before biting down on his lip and giving a little nod of his head. Logan smiled wider.

"Good! More?" But he didn't actually wait for an answer before dipping back down to kiss and nip at Carlos' neck and throat. His moans became much louder now as his body took over from his fogged brain, blocking out all the fear and concentrating instead on the pleasure that Logan's touch was bringing to him. He let himself relax into Logan's arms and did not resist when Logan began to ease him back down onto his bed. The older boy followed him down, laying half over him, his lips still moving against Carlos' neck. His fingers gripped the Latino's chin, turning his head to the side and then continuing his assault on the boy's confused senses from the other side of his neck. Slowly he began to stretch one hand out across Carlos' chest, feeling the tight muscles and hard nipples through the fabric of his wifebeater. Carlos moaned again and writhed beneath his touch. He kinda felt like he should be returning the favour, but giving pleasure in that way was not really something that he had ever had a lot of experience with. Lifting his hands nervously to Logan's face he gently pushed the boy away from where he was currently sucking on Carlos' earlobe. Logan looked down at him for a brief second and the other boy's eyes locked on his with a slight smile. Carlos brought his lips to Logan's throat, placing an experimental open mouthed kiss across the warm skin. Logan gave a little gasp of pleasure, Carlos moved his kisses up, trying hard to replicate the things that Logan had done to him. He let his own hand trail over the boy's back, stroking slowly down to the jean clad ass. The moving fingers on his own chest stilled then curled into a fist, clutching the fabric of his top and pulled him closer. He lifted away for a second and smiled at Logan.

"Am I doing it right?" He asked softly.

"Fuck! Yeah!" Logan moaned and Carlos returned to his previous activity on his throat. Logan pulled back and sat up again, catching his breath.

"Take your top off."He asked, voice husky and low. Carlos shrugged and complied. He was still with a VIP and he had to obey. After throwing the garment aside he lay back down and waited to see what was going to happen next. Logan moved beside him and helped him to move across the bed a little so that he was now laying back with his head on the pillow. Carlos was a little nervous when Logan moved over him, straddling his hips and sitting up to quickly discard his own t-shirt. He ran his hands down his own body, then gripped Carlos's hips before slowly sliding his hands up the Latino's caramel skin to grasp his hands in his own. He smiled warmly at him, then began to rock his hips, rubbing himself groin to groin against Carlos. Lips met again, and this time Carlos was a lot more responsive. In the back of his mind he was still half waiting for the pain to start, but he was willing to just go with the flow for now. And the flow felt surprisingly good.

Twenty minutes later they were still kissing, caressing and grinding their aroused bodies against each other. All the while Byron sat watching them silently, still barely able to believe the things that were happening on the bed.

Logan wanted more. He pulled away from Carlos and knelt up over him, hands reaching for the buckle of his belt. His fingers stumbled in their urgency, he slipped to the floor and preceded to remove the rest of his clothing, Carlos lay watching him with eyes clouded with lust, his fear now almost completely gone. He was pretty sure now that even when Logan finally took him, there would not be the pain that he had originally been so fearful of. Logan just smiled at him.

"Want you to get naked now, please." He asked. Carlos wasted no time in removing his jeans and throwing them down with the rest of the discarded clothing on the floor. He was already hard and he found himself almost absentmindedly palming himself as he waited for Logan to rejoin him on the bed. He knelt next to the boy and leant over to give him another kiss before sitting back up and turning to Byron.

"Do you have any lube?" he asked, Byron nodded and reached into the inside pocket of his jacket. He handed it to the naked youth on the bed who thanked him before turning and handing the tube to Carlos, who gave a confused frown.

"Move down the bed." Logan whispered, "Give me a little more room." Carlos lifted up and slid down the bed on his ass, wondering how Logan wanted him. But Logan moved himself to the middle of the bed, positioning himself on all fours, spreading his knees a little wider apart and dropping to his elbows. Carlos' eyes grew wide as he popped his ass in the air and glanced back at him over his shoulder.

"Prepare me?" He whined. Carlos stared blankly for a moment, then looked across at Byron for confimation. Did he really want him to...?

Byron nodded silently to the boy. If that was what Logan wanted, that was what he should do. Carlos came up close behind him, caressing his behind, then stretched out over his back, hard cock resting in the crack of his ass as his fingers travelled up Logan's spine.

"You want me to fuck you?" He asked as Logan pushed himself back against the golden body.

"Yessss!" He hissed , closing his eyes and rocking back against Carlos' body, moaning loudly. Carlos moved slowly back, placing gentle kisses on Logan's spine as he slid back down to the foot of the bed. Gripping his own hard cock in his fist he dropped down behind the boy waiting patiently for his attention and kissed each cheek of his ass before kissing gently over his tight hole, tongue flicking slowly out to tease him. Logan groaned so loud. The Latino smiled to himself and then sat up a little and squirted some of the lube onto his middle finger and began to circle it around his entrance, enjoying the pants and curses slipping from the other boy's lips. He took his time, not really sure how experienced Logan was. He was very tight and by the time Carlos had three fingers inside him, pumping slowly and steadily he was almost incoherant in his ecstacy. It felt so good. He let out a disapointed groan as Carlos removed his fingers and took time his slick his cock with more of the lube.

"I think you're ready for me now, yeah?" Carlos asked him and Logan groaned loudly and pushed his hips back towards him, encouraging him to move on to the main act.

"Yes! Fuck me, Carlos! I want you!" He moaned, glancing back over his shoulder as the boy moved into position, rubbing himself against Logan's body. Carlos grabbed his hips and slowly pushed forward. Logan let out a scream. No one told him how fucking much it would hurt! Carlos stilled with only about half his length inside his tight ass. He stroked soothing circles on the small of Logan's back, encouraging him to relax while he still placed enough pressure on the boy to slowly slide in as his muscles relaxed. He took his time, reaching beneath the boy to roughly stroke his hard cock causing him to shudder and groan, taking his attention off of the pain and allowing Carlos to finally sink all the way inside. He held himself still, waiting for Logan to become accustomed to his body inside him. After a while Logan moved a little, pushing back and moaning again, Carlos smiled as he pulled slowly back until just the head of his cock was nestled inside Logan's tight ass. He began to pump slowly in and out, groaning at the friction on his body.

"Fuck! Logan! You're so damn tight!" Logan just groaned and pushed back against Carlos as he thrust. It felt so damn good!

"Harder!" He demanded and the Latino moved to grip the other boy's hips and thrust faster and deeper with every move of his body. He had never done this before, never topped like this. Once he had been used by two guys and he had been inside the body of one while the other had fucked him. But he had never done this, just two people on the bed together. And Logan's behaviour made a whole world of difference. No violence, no pain, just moans and kisses and soft caresses. Almost like they were just lovers.

After ten minutes of hard fucking Carlos pulled out and rolled Logan onto his back. He wanted to see the boy's face when he came. He pushed his legs apart and slid back inside his heat, quickly resuming thrusting at his previous pace. Logan arched his body moaning louder as the changed position caused Carlos's deep thrusts to hit against his sweet-spot. He found himself gripping the Latino's biceps as he balanced over him, closing his eyes and crying out with pleasure with each pounding thrust. He felt the pleasure coming from deep inside his belly. Neither of them was giving any attention to Logan's aching cock, but he knew that he was going to climax real soon anyway. Carlos glanced down at the throbbing organ briefly and muttered some filthy words of encouragement into Logan's ear. His eyes went wide as his body exploded jets of sticky white cum over both of their stomachs. It caused his body to tighten around Carlos, pushing him over the edge and he tensed as he filled Logan's body with his own seed. Logan just clung to him, panting heavily and releasing soft whines and moans of utter pleasure. Carlos carefully removed himself from inside Logan's body and flopped to the bed between Logan's relaxed form and the wall. Both boys lay still with their chests heaving as they came down from their orgasmic highs. Logan opened his eyes and groaned as he moved to turn to face the Latino, smiling softly when Carlos' eyes met his.

"How was that?" He asked, knowing that his requests would have been a huge surprise to the boy. Carlos just leant across and carefully locked lips with the guy again, tongue flicking out to explore. He briefly glanced across at Byron. The huge guy smiled at him and stood slowly, he pointed to the door and mouthed, 'Won't be a moment' to him. Carlos gave a slight nod of his head, letting him know he understood, then just continued kissing Logan.

He gave them a little while alone, not at all worried that Logan would hurt the boy. When he returned with a couple of drinks for the exhausted young men, they had cleaned themselves up and were in the process of getting dressed. They were chatting together and trading kisses and Byron smiled at them as he handed them the glasses of soda. They sat together on Carlos' bed and held hands while they finished their drinks, Logan was extremely sad that his VIP encounter was almost over, but he had already decided that he had to find a way to arrange another one, even though he knew it would cost him a hell of a lot of money. He finally stood to say goodbye and Carlos wrapped his arms around him, giving him one last, long, slow, deep hands drifted down to caress and squeeze Logan's, not quite as tight as it had been before, ass. Carlos chuckled as they broke apart.

"Was I a good birthday present?" He asked with a smirk. Logan grinned wide.

"The. Best. Ever!" He declared, eyes sparkling with mirth.

"Happy birthday!" Carlos whispered and finally moved away and sat back down on his bed. Logan turned and left the room with Byron, pausing outside the door, while the MC locked it, to give a deep contented sigh. Byron shook his head as he watched the boy set off back down into the club. Definitely not the way he had expected the night to go at all!

He checked in on James before going downstairs himself. Even though the music was still blasting down in the club, James was sleeping through it. A beautiful angel laying wrapped up in his covers, peaceful in his sleep. Byron blew him a kiss that he did not see. His heart felt lighter tonight, he knew that tomorrow night they would be back to the hell that Carlos was used to, but tonight had been a good night. He only wished that it could continue.

_**Hope that you enjoyed that! Let me know what ya think! Luv & Blessings Allie X**_


	7. Chapter 7

caged diamond 7

_A/N Happy Sunday! New chapter! Thank you's to my recent reviewers! __JamesxKendallxKames3, Barbed Wire Halo, Carphanie, EveryDayImBTRushering,Drama Jen 89, Mrs Scopious Malfoy 1517, Just Fetching, and of course to my dear friend, CoogrrShae! Love to you always, I cherish our friendship, even though we are on opposite sides of the big pond! 3_

Carlos slept well on Thursday night, his head full of dreams about himself and the sexy young accountant. He knew that when he woke it would be just another Friday and that Logan would not be there in his arms like he had the night before but the memory was enough to keep him going a little longer.

Friday was a busy night with people starting their weekend in earnest. Lots of sexy young things dressed up to the nines getting drunk and horny watching the young men who worked the club stripping and dancing. There was a lot of making out going on around the club, but as long as nothing too untoward happened out on the dancefloor Bitters was quite happy to turn a blind eye. The bar was busy , but Kendall had got used to it by now and kept up with Alyx and Lucas. Friday night, everyone seemed to get a little crazy, Lucas and Alyx jumped up on the bar at one time to give a little performance of their own, gyrating and shaking their asses to the music blaring throughh the club while the waiting patrons howled their approval. Kendall just stood back, grinning as he watched them, shaking his head frantically as they tried to encourage him to join them. He didn't think he was brave enough to do that yet.

Carlos performed again, a strip performance with an African American boy named Marc with crazy curly hair. They would remove each others clothing before finishing their act simulating sex on a chair on the stage. Byron performed too and Kendall was surprised and impressed with his amazing voice and stage presence. Towards the end of the evening Byron led Carlos out to the VIP couches and sat him with a much older guy who drew the little Latino onto his lap and sat there kissing him and running his hand over the boy's muscular body. Byron kept his distance as he was expected to within the actual public part of the club, but he kept a close eye on what was happening with the guy and Carlos. After a while the man beckoned Byron over to him and they had a whispered conversation, all the while he kept Carlos perched on his knee his hand gripping the golden skin of the boy's bared thigh. He wanted more. He pulled out his wallet and passed a wad of money to the MC who nodded tightly and stepped back slightly. The guy slipped Carlos from his lap, then stood and took his hand, following Byron through the club towards the stairs down to the basement, leading Carlos behind him. Well it was to be expected he supposed. It was part of his job and he couldn't expect to always get someone like Logan.

He was quite lucky that night though. Although the guy was only interested in his own pleasure, he wasn't unduly rough and he didn't want anything kinky. No spanking or beating or violence. He just positioned Carlos on all fours and took him hard and fast. But Carlos was used to being used and abused and he could take that pretty easily. Plus his mind was still full of what he had done with Logan the night before and he found that he was able to shut himself off from what was being done to him. He didn't enjoy it, but he was not being hurt so he just kinda ignored what the guy was doing to his tight ass.

Saturday was the really crazy night at Twisted Desires. When Kendall arrived for work there were posters all over the front announcing that Saturday night was the night of 'The Diamond'. The one night of the week that James would be taking to the stage. Kendall was looking forward to it, he had watched him rehearsing and had helped out with his daily exercise sessions and taking his food to him in the evening, but he had yet to see him actually all dressed up and performing. Even Alyx and Lucas said that he was impressive to watch, and Kendall had the added addition of finding James extremely attractive.

He was still finding himself jerking off at the end of the day, purely from thinking about the hazel-eyed boy and his stunning muscular body. Little did he realise that he was having the exact same effect on the object of his desire, much to Bitters' pleasure. He had a little side-line going on with James' adoring fans. Clothing stained with the emissions of James' lust sold for a hell of a lot of money on the internet and Bitters was more than happy to take advantage of the results of the teen's nightly explorations of his own body. He was quite surprised that the boy never asked why his bedtime clothing always seemed to be like brand new. It was because it was, the previous night's clothing finding its way into Bitters office instead of in the laundry.

Opening time rolled around and Kendall, Alyx and Lucas took up their places behind the bar, getting a last quick pep talk from Byron and a reminder about making sure that they were not caught in the basement went James came on-stage because they would get shut down there for the length of his performance when the club was sealed off. Kendall was a little nervous too as Byron had informed him at the last moment that he would actually be taking a part in James' act. He would be needed to bring a wicked looking dagger down to the stage for Byron. He had briefly rehearsed what was expected of him, but he hadn't had what would be done with the dagger explained to him and he was a little nervous still, even though his rehearsal had involved him taking the dagger back to the bar with him. He didn't think that Byron would be cutting James or anyone else with the knife but he kinda thought that you could never be to sure in this place.

Within an hour of the club opening it was heaving with more people than any other night of the week. To Kendall's surprise, Lucas informed him that as well as waiting on the VIP couches there was one table over by the stage that he would be taking drinks to. The occupants of the table were too shy to come to the bar, prefering instead to stay near the stage so that they got a good view of the object of their desire. James. Byron let them get away with it as he found their adoration of the young, gay, youth both cute and slightly amusing. It was a slight shock to Kendall when he made his way over with a tray of drinks to find the table occupied by three giggling young women. Girls at an all male gay club? Kendall shrugged a little in surprise as the one with red streaks in her long black hair smiled up at him as he placed the tray on the table.

"Oh!" She exclaimed, looking him up and down. "You're new?" Kendall smiled wide and nodded as the other two turned to give him the eye too. He held his hand out and shook her hand, then did the same to her companions before setting each drink on the table.

"Kendall." He told them. "I think I'm your waiter tonight." He chuckled.

"Hi Kendall!" She grinned back, "I'm Lucy. This is Jo." She guestured to the blonde. "And this is Camille." She waved her hand towards the last girl. Kendall nodded 'Hello' to each girl.

"Nice to meet you. Hope you have a great night."

"Oh, we will!" Camille giggled. "We are going to see The Diamond! We look forward to this all week!"

"Oooh yeah! James!" Jo swooned. Kendall smiled and left them to their drinks. Yeah, he could understand their interest in the gorgeous young man! But then, unlike them. He might actually have a chance with the boy, considering that James didn't have any interest in girls!

When he got back to the bar, Alyx chuckled as he made his way back to his place.

"So you met some of our more unusual patrons, yes?" He laughed.

"There was nothing unusual about them! They seem like nice girls." Kendall replied as he took an order and began to fill a glass with ice.

"Yeah. OK. I suppose they are. Aside from the fact that they are spending their Saturday night, yet again, in a GAY strip joint! Lusting after a guy who will never have any interest in them! Well, at least not the way that they would like him to be interested in them."

Kendall just shrugged. "No different really to lusting after an unobtainable popstar. At least they get to see him everyweek. They seem really happy."

"Yeah. I suppose so. They are just too nervous, still, to come to the bar though!" He laughed and the three of them got on with serving the evenings patrons.

When the night's performances started people settled down eager not to miss a single second of the entertainment. Just before the dancers arrived on stage all the lights were cut and a pair of bright searchlights began to criss-cross over the crowds and a heavy, pulsing dance beat filled the air. Kendallwas not aware that there was a trap door in the ceiling as it was only used on a Saturday and the tests to check it was functioning properly had been carried out before he had arrived that day. Lucas tapped his arm and pointed upwards as a spotlight illuminated the gaping hole in the ceiling after the doors opened and a cage began to decend into the club. People began to whoop and cheer and as Kendall glanced around the lights fell on the table where the three young women were and he saw that they were all up on their feet staring at the cage as it dropped lower. When they could finally see the occupant they all began to scream. Kendall stared as James came into view. He was standing with his hands gripping the bars at the sides of the cage, barefoot but dressed in black shorts and a tight black vest that clung to every curve of his body. He was smeared here and there with silver glitter, on his face and on his massive biceps that bulged obscenely as he gyrated and pumped his hips for his adoring audience. His eyes were highlighted with black kohl the same as the three boys behind the bar and Kendall felt his breath catch as the boy turned and his eyes seemed to search for someone in the crowd. Then his eyes locked onto Kendall's and a sexy smirk washed across his face as he dropped his body and thrust suggestively against the bars of his prison. He brought one hand up and ran his index finger over his tongue and then popped it into his mouth and sucked it, making a show of drawing it slowly out. Kendall felt his stomach flip and an embarrassing pulse in his groin as the hazel-eyed God flicked a cute wave at him then turned his attention back to his adoring fans. All the while the cage continued on it's journey across the ceiling on it's way to the stage. Kendall took a deep breath and tried to will away the growing bulge between his thighs. He had to go out in the crowd soon! He didn't want to have to do that with an obvious boner! One thing about James appearance bugged him though, as it always did. His chain. It was attached to his collar as usual and the other end was fixed to the bars of his cage. It was a shorter chain than his normal, everyday one, and highly polished, glinting in the light of the spotlight that shone on James' perfect features, but it was still a chain, and even though Kendall was extremely turned on by his appearance, the chain still made him feel sad for the boy.

The dim lights in the club came back up as Byron introduced the dancers onto the stage, James' cage was now stationary, suspended above the area in front of the stage. It did not block the view of the performers on the stage but if you wanted to watch him he was still in full view. He performed in synch with the guys on the stage, moving smoothly, bumping and grinding to the music, biting his bottom lip as he rolled his hips and dropped his head back, eyes closing. He was really enjoying himself tonight. He liked performing, if he was honest. Loved all the adoring looks that he got, all the cat calls and filthy remarks. He loved knowing that he was affecting these people, turning them on. Even the few ladies that came to the club only on the nights that he performed. Oh yes! He was perfectly aware of Jo, Lucy and Camille over in the corner at their little table with eyes only for him. But the one who was really affecting _him_ tonight was Kendall.

He felt quite guilty how quickly Chris was slipping from his mind now that he was no longer around every day, but then he had never wanted Chris in the way that he wanted Kendall. Yeah, the kiss that they had shared was nice and he did sometimes think about making out with Chris, but with Kendall he wanted more than sloppy kisses and wandering hands. He wanted Kendall to possess him. Take everything he had to offer and give him everything he had in return. He dropped to his knees in unison with the troup down on the stage behind him as his eyes scanned the distance for the blond again. He smiled to himself as he watched, knowing just how close to him the boy would be very soon.

The next act on stage was Carlos and James wriggled along with the music as he performed, enjoying watching his little Latino friend getting the crowd all whipped up for the nights main event. After Carlos, Byron took to the stage with the house band, belting out some over the top, sexy, rock songs. James adored his friend and protector's amazing voice and dancing to his vocals always got him suitably revved up for his own performance.

Lucas turned to Kendall as the bar became quiet for the first time that night as people made sure that they were seated ready, with a good view of the stage.

"Nearly time." He grinned. "Are you ready for your debut?" Kendall took a deep breath and trembled just a little. As eager as he was to see James close up, he was nervous about being the centre of attention, even for just a little while.

"It's too late to back out now, I suppose?" He only half joked. Finishing serving the last customer, Alyx joined them and shook his head, his baby-blues twinkling with amusement.

"Oooh! Yeah! Far too late for that! Just calm yourself and get ready for the spectacle!" Kendall was surprised when Alyx wrapped his muscular arms around him, giving him a tight hug. "You'll be fine! The punters will love you!"

"They will barely notice me! All they are interested in is James.!" Kendall was under no illusions here. He was just an accessory to make James performance as breathtaking as possible. But he was happy just to get a chance to get close to the boy.

Byron came to the front of the stage, music rumbling behind him and raised his arms to the crowd, signalling his readiness to begin what they had all been waiting for. He glanced up at James who was staring down at him in anticipation, biting down on his bottom lip.

"You ready?" He mouthed silently. James just nodded and gripped the bars before him.

Byron threw his head back and bellowed.

"Secure the building!"

The security staff rushed around the club, closing and bolting all doors and exits through the building, men taking up position at each staircase and the entrance to the basement. One of the guards came to the front of the stage and approached Byron.

"Building is secure, Sir." He informed him before turning and leaving, taking up position in front of the main doorway with his arms crossed over his massive chest. Byron flicked one more glance at James and the boy nodded then stepped back from the front of the cage. He gripped the side bars, feet spread and hips rolling seductively from side to side in time with the music.

"Lower the cage!" Byron roared and the technician high above them started the machinery that began to lower the cage until it came to rest on the edge of the stage. Byron stepped forward, reaching into his coat and pulling out a set of keys. He unlocked the door and swung it open, James stepped out and stood in front of him, waiting patiently. Byron reached up and released the chain from his collar, tossing the loose end back inside the cage, then closing the door. He stepped back and hollered dramatically again.

"Raise the cage!" It rumbled into action again. Once it was on it's way back to it's hiding place in the ceiling he turned his attention back to the youth before him, a wicked grin flicking over his features.

"Down, boy!" He ordered.

James stopped moving to the music briefly and dropped to his knees, back still to his audience, hands spread to his sides.

"All the way down."

He slowly lowered his body to the stage behind him until his head touched down. He arched his back hard. Hips pushed forward, thrusting in time with the beat and his head tilted back enough to scan the club behind him. Once the cage had disapeared from view, Byron crouched down beside him, spreading one hand out to ghost over James' body from throat to groin without actually making contact with his form. He lifted his head and looked out across the club.

"Dagger!" He growled low and threateningly.

Kendall felt his heart pound in his chest. It was his time. He stepped out from behind the bar holding a frightening looking blade. The double edged steel was wavy in shape and wickedly sharp. The golden handle that Kendall clutched in his grasp was studded with Amethysts, very dramatic. He made his way to the stage, staring straight ahead and trying hard to ignore the eyes that were on him and the comments about his body and ass. As he got closer one pair of eyes in particular began to bore into him and he was unable to look away. Even from his prostrate position on the stage, hips thrusting in time to the beat still, James couldn't help but stare at the green-eyed boy coming towards him. He blinked slowly and licked his lips and Kendall stumbled slightly as he took in the beautiful boy's lust filled look. But it was all part of the act, wasn't it?

He handed the dagger to the MC as he knelt beside the boy and he nodded his thanks. Kendall dropped to his knees infront of the stage, he lowered his head, he couldn't take staring into those beautiful eyes. But when he heard Byron move, his head came back up, unable to tear his eyes away from what the guy was doing. He hadn't actually been told what was going to happen now in any great detail. Byron slowly ran the dagger over James' groin, heading up his body, over his abs, between his pecs and coming to a stop with the point of the blade resting on the thick leather of the collar as James stilled his movements. The air was heavy with anticipation and lust as Byron lifted the dagger over The Diamond's face, a quick smile as he paused before slashing the blade down towards the boys throat. Kendall's eyes opened wide in fear as he watched it decend. Holy fuck! What was happening?

_**And let's leave it there shall we? Until next week, my friends! Please read and review! Bright Blessings Allie X**_


	8. Chapter 8

Caged Diamond 8

_**Sunday evening again! Here is the next chapter and the resolution of what is going on with that dagger! LOL! If anyone wants to see a photo of what James' stage costume looks like I'll see if I can post the photo somewhere for you. **_

Kendall found himself frozen as he watched the blade's descent. Torn between absolute terror and the belief that there was no way that Byron would ever hurt the young man now laying perfectly still on the stage. Part of him wanted to leap up and stop the knife from reaching it's intended target, his heart thundering as he imagined the sharp blade piercing James' perfect flesh. He stared into the boy's eyes, seeing only calm and the stirrings of arousal there instead of the fear that he would have expected if the boy was about to breath his last. Kendall flicked his eyes back to the blade as it stopped with a jerk barely an inch from James' throat. Tilting the knife he slipped the tip of the blade under the neckline of the vest. From this close, Kendall could see that all of James' outer clothing was made of black rubber and as the blade slid down it was slit open all the way down the front. The watching crowd howled for more, they had never been frightened like Kendall as a lot of them had seen this done before. Byron came back to James' shoulders and slashed the straps apart too, then he trailed the blade back down over the exposed flesh of James' torso until he reached his waist. He hooked his finger in the waist band and pulled it up a little, glancing out at the crowd he shouted out to them, pointing the dagger at the rubber covering the boy's sex.

"Shall I?" The reply was universal.

"Yes!"

There were screams and obscene suggestions and Kendall watched the mirth in James' beautiful eyes as he still focused on his upside down view of the current object of his own desire, Kendall himself. His chest rose and fell steadily with each breath he took as he waited to be freed from the rather restrictive shorts and Kendall found his eyes absolutely locked on the beautiful figure on the stage, he shuddered slightly as he knelt still mesmerized by what was happening on the stage. Byron slipped the blade under the waistband of the shorts, carefully guiding the blade over the bulge of James' groin and down to the hem of one leg, then he brought the blade back and slashed the other leg open. He reached over and handed the blade back to Kendall and dismissed him with a wave of his hand before getting to his feet and moving away from where James lay on the stage.

Kendall made his way back to the bar, a little disapointed, he would have much rather stayed closer to the action on the stage. When he got halfway back to the bar, just behind the last little group of tables, a hand reached out and grabbed his arm and he turned to see that Lucas and Alyx had left the bar to one of the security guys and come closer to watch themselves. Kendall slid in next to them and concentrated on the boy on the stage again.

"What did you think? You did good!" Alyx whispered in his ear over the pounding music.

"I thought he was going to kill him!" He admitted. Alyx laughed out loud.

"You think that Griffin would let him kill his greatest asset? Look around this place! It's packed!" Kendall nodded. Yeah, he supposed it was a stupid thing to think, but with the things he knew happened here, murder only seemed one short step away. Byron stepped away from James again and stood waiting as the music playing behind them reached a loud crescendo. James raised his feet over his head, then flicked forward quickly, body lifting from the ground and settling perfectly on his feet. He spun round, amazingly fast, to finally face his adoring public. He was clutching the remnants of his ruined outfit in his fists and as his body ceased rotating he flung them out into the watching audience, finally standing there in the clothes he was to perform in. Well, Kendall wasn't really sure what the boy was dressed in could be classed as 'clothes'!

James stood on the stage, watching his audience with hooded eyes and a soft smile on his lips. He had a black leather pouch that buckled around his slender hips, just about containing what appeared to be the quite substantial bulge of his sex and over that he wore what Kendall assumed were meant to be shorts, but as they were made from rather an open fishnet fabric they didn't really cover much. His nipple ring glinted under the stage lights and he had more smears of the same glitter that was on his cheeks and biceps on his broad chest and washboard abs. He looked magnificent and that twinge that Kendall had felt in his groin before was nothing compared to the violent pulsing that swept over him now. He was pretty glad that the club was too dark for anyone to notice his obvious arousal, or so he thought. He flicked his gaze to his two collegues and gave a weak smile as he realised that they were both staring at him through the gloom. They were already quite aware that Kendall was attracted to James and seemed to find it quite amusing that the blond was, quite obviously to them, becoming extremely aroused at the sight of James so very close to naked.

Byron nodded to James and then slid into the wings to organise his backing music. The band fell silent as the two silvered poles rose up through the stage and locked into their place in the rafters above the stage. James raised his head and seemed to stare into space over the heads of the crowd as he breathed slow and deep, psyching himself up for his performance. But the person at the receiving end of his firey gaze knew the look was meant for him. Kendall shuddered and couldn't help the tiny groan that slipped from between his suddenly dry lips. God what was this boy doing to him? And God! What wouldn't he like to do to this boy!

The music began , smoky guitar crying in the darkness. James stalked towards one pole and effortlessly leapt into the air, grasping the cool steel and swinging around, climbing up to the top, body twisting and legs stradling the pole as he turned his body upside down. The slow thrum of the music coursing through his body. Kendall couldn't tear his eyes away as James continued to spin and climb and slide down the pole. He dropped to the floor between the poles, hips gyrating, hands travelling over his own body, eyes closing as he slid his hand down to palm himself briefly. He lay back again and slowly rolled his hips, thrusting his sex suductively. This was his time. Tonight, he wasn't a young man kept as a prisoner within the confines of this club. A man who had not set foot outside of the building, aside from the enclosed garden since he was fifteen. Four whole years. Tonight he was the object of desire for close on four hundred patrons. This one night a week his performance aroused and titilated all of these strangers who would give anything to touch him, hold him, kiss him. Fuck him. And yet the object of all their lust and dreams wanted nothing more than to get out of this place. But on Saturday nights he lost himself in the music and the darkness and heat of the club. Escaping into his own dreams where he rubbed his body against a warm, willing partner who just wanted to hold him, not any of the filthy suggestions that got shouted at him as he performed.

As he moved over to the second pole, he noticed the group of girls over at their table. They were all on their feet, totally oblivious to everyone else around them, their eyes and minds completely fixed on the performer on the stage. James smiled to himself as he coiled around the pole, pulling himself higher with his muscular arms with barely any effort at all. Even though the three young women would never appeal to him romantically or sexually, the idea of them being his friends was a nice thought to have for the lonely boy. Yes. Even with all these admirers he still felt that he could count his real friends on one hand. Byron, Carlos, Sean the cook who he barely saw recently and Chris, who he hadn't seen for nearly a week. He had thought that Chris was his friend, but then the guy had fled to Europe with barely a thought for James, it seemed. As he continued his act, swirling around the two poles, thrusting suggestively against the rod between his thighs his eyes rested on Kendall again. He closed his eyes again and dropped down the pole, he thrust a little harder, head rolling back and fingers of his free hand trailing over his open mouth. His tongue flicked out over his digits moistening them so when they continued their journey down his body they left a trail that glittered under the stage lights. Down his breast bone and out over his ring-less nipple and down across his wash-board abs to his navel. Kendall could feel his body becoming harder by the second as he watched James' sensual performance, he imagined being up there with him, running his hands over his flesh. Feeling the muscles that rippled across his back as he began to climb the pole again, his ass and those amazing biceps. Imagine those soft lips curling into a seductive smile just for him, a real smile. James sliding those same lips over Kendall's own, down his chin to place hot kisses on his throat, sliding up to tease the sweet spot behind his ear. Fuck! Kendall didn't think he had ever wanted someone as much as he wanted James in his whole life. He watch as those long legs locked around the cold steel and the elegant body draped back, hips moving just enough to drive the crowd wild and hands teasing hardening nipples while those soft lips parted to let out a soft, teasing moan. His audience whooped and cheered as he relaxed the strong muscles in his thighs just enough to allow his body to slide gracefully down the steel.

All too soon for the people watching the music came to an end, James bringing his feet to the pole and pushing off, flipping effortlessly through the air, twisting his lithe body as he did to land perfectly between the two poles. His arms were stretched out to his sides and his head bowed, chest visably heaving just a little as he caught his breath. Kendall was suprised that there was no response, no applause from the watching people and turned to look at his collegues in confusion. Lucus lifted a finger and raised his eyebrow.

"Wait." he whispered, then guestured with with his digit for Kendall to continue watching. A new tune drifted up from the speakers as Byron appeared behind him again, dragging a chair behind him and leaving it , facing the back of the stage, behind the near naked performer. Perhaps the strangest part of the second part of James' act was the extra piece of clothing that Byron tossed towards the grinning youth as he straightened and prowled round to the chair. He caught the cowboy hat that his friend threw his way and placed it on his head, hazel eyes twinkling with mirth as the song picked up and Kendall recognised it as the theme to a rather sexy vampire programme.

James stood straddling the chair, his thumbs hooked in the waistband of his shorts and began to sway his hips to the music, a grin spreading over his features as he poked his tongue out to sweep out over his lips. He had never performed this in public before, it was a whole new thing for the watching crowd, he had rehearsed this and previewed it for Griffin as he needed his permission to do what the act entailed. No-one was allowed to touch the boy in anyway, but tonight one of his fans was gonna be getting up close and personal with him. But as Griffin would not allow contact between James and any male, one of his female fans was in for the shock of their life and it was a damn good thing that they had turned up as expected otherwise he would have had to change his act pretty damn quick. He had originally suggested that he perform with Carlos since the boy lived within the club with him, but even he was off-limits.

"Hmm? So who wants to come up here for a special dance then?"

James looked out across the crowd, pretending that he was choosing from the whole crowd. His eyes briefly resting on Kendall again as he wondered how Griffin would react if he went his own way and called the blond up to the stage. But he didn't want to cause his new friend any trouble so he continued his gaze round the club while continuing bumping and grinding against the back of the chair to the jangling guitars. He stretched his hand out towards the table containing the girls as Byron suddenly appeared in front of the stage, he pointed towards the girls and gave a questioning glance to the boy on the stage. This had already been worked out between them. If the girls thought going to the bar was frightening, one of them was about to be completely terrified! James couldn't have told you why he picked the person that he did, having only ever seen her from his place on the stage. When Byron made it to the table where the three young women stood squealing their appreciation for his performance, he flicked his head towards the brunette and Byron reached across and grabbed Camille's hand, pulling her behind him back towards the stage. If anything, she squealed even louder as they got closer , then covered her mouth with her hand to try to contain her excitement as she glanced back at her friends while stumbling along behind the flamboyant MC.

She was in complete and utter shock as she was quickly taken round to the back and led out under the bright lights. James slid back off of the chair and reached to take her shaking hand from Byron and pulled her close.

"What's your name?" He whispered as he pulled her into his bare chest. Her breath caught and for a moment she thought she was going to faint but she took a sudden gasp of air and steadied her nerves.

"C C Camille! My name is Camille!" She replied and he smiled broadly at her. OK. So she didn't appeal to him in that way, but she was pretty and he found her flustered state cute. He turned her towards the audience, smiling a genuine smile at her.

"This is Camille!" He called to the audience and though they were both surprised and a little pissed that out of all the men in the club, James had chosen one of the few women there, they still cheered for her. He brought her back to the chair and sat her down with her back to the audience. This performance was all about titilation and what the audience imagined was going on out of their sight. The only one who would get the full benefit of his movement was going to be the girl now seated before him. The vocals began on the song and he began to dance just for her.

Whistles and cheers filled the air as James lifted his arms over his head and began to shimmy forward as he rolled his hips from side to side as he slowly moved to straddle Camille's lap, dipping his body down to touch briefly against her lap them coming back up and beginning to roll his hips seductively. His leather and fishnet covered groin was barely inches from her face and she let out another squeal and stared up at him as he wriggled and pumped his hips. Her hands hung loose at her sides as she struggled to take in what was happening. Her two friends still over at the table were feeling just slightly jealous, but too damn excited by James' performance to do any more than continue to scream along as James began to mouth the words to the backing track. He dropped down onto her lap again and grabbed her hands, linking his fingers through hers and brought her hands up and wriggled in her lap before bringing her hands to his body, encouraging her to grip his hips as he straightened up again and continued gyrating. His mouth opened and he let out a deep growl, dropping his head back, one hand grasping the hat to keep it from slipping and the other moving to grip her shoulder. He smiled at her and leant in really close to her ear, his ass still moving as he growled the lyrics into her ear.

" I wanna do bad things with you." He felt her body shudder as he continued to tease the girl beneath him. But as he looked up he found himself focusing on Kendall as he continued his teasing. His tongue slid out between his lips again as he circled his hips against Camille and his tongue around his mouth that was open in a soft 'O' . He finally sat down on her lap and rocked against her, his hand now gripping the back of the chair behind her. He flickered his tongue then looked back down at the girl's face as he ground his groin against her belly. He could see just how much this was affecting her. She seemed to be oblivious to the fact that she was on the stage in front of hundreds of people, her eyes were dilated and her breathing had become slow and deep. The thought briefly crossed his mind that perhaps this was a little cruel. Getting the young girl all wound up and obviously aroused when there was no way that she would get any release in a club like this. Griffin would never accept a VIP request from a woman, he knew that much. But then again he didn't really think that Camille would be complaining anytime soon! He took hold of her hands again,teasing her fingers before bringing her hands up and dropping them onto his chest. She flattened her palms against his sweat slickened flesh, feeling his hardened nipples under her palms. Her eyes were locked on the sight of her own hands on her idol's flesh while he lifted up and raised his own hands over his head again. Her heart was beating so very fast as the vocalist on the track let out as howl before the guitar break kicked in. She knew that the song was coming to an end so she made the most of the unexpected situation, sliding her hands back down his body to feel his abs. Thinking she might decide to take her descending hands a little further than he was comfortable with he grabbed her wrists and brought her hands up and leant in to kiss each palm lightly, feeling her body shake beneath him as he did.

He swung his leg back and moved off of her lap, spinning around and wriggling his ass against her body, not really surprised when she seized the chance to quickly grope his ass cheeks as the song finally came to an end. He pulled away from her and reached up to remove the hat resting on his sweat-slicked hair. He plopped it down on Camille's dark curly hair and then helped her up from the chair as Byron came on-stage to collect her. She stood there for a while looking stunned as James passed the hand he held across to his boss, a cheeky smile on his lips as he did.

This had been a good idea, Byron decided to himself as he lead the girl away. James had quite clearly thoroughly enjoyed teasing the life out of the girl. She was still trembling as Byron escorted her back to her seat, her two friends jumping on her the moment she was back with them. They were desperate to know what he looked like, felt like and smelt like that close up, but to be honest, Camille was still in too much of a daze to tell them! She just sat there grinning like an idiot with the cowboy hat still perched on her head as James moved on to give one last performance on the poles before he would be put back into his cage.

He glanced out at Kendall again and with barely a thought about whether he would get in trouble for it or not, he blew the blond a kiss before licking his top lip with a seductive wink. Kendall himself gave a gasp at the public guesture that was quite obviously directed at him. His body still craved the near-naked brunette, even though he knew it was forbidden. Fuck! His hand was gonna be busy again tonight!

_**No cliff-hanger this week! Hope that you enjoyed James' performance! The two pieces that he performed to were 'Slow dancing in a burning room' by John Mayer and 'Bad Things' by Jace Everett - the theme to 'True Blood' Next week we get some back-story, how both James and Carlos came to be living at 'Twisted Desires' as the property of Griffin. Until then! Luv and Blessings Allie XXX**_


	9. Chapter 9

Caged Diamond 9

_**A/N Hello again! Sunday seems to come round so fast! Just a warning, there is some not nice stuff in this chapter! Thank-you for all the reviews, favourites and follows!**_

After James had left the stage to raptuous applause and his cage had once again disappeared into the ceiling, the club was no longer on lock-down. The security guards melted back into the background and Kendall and his colleages returned to their station at the bar. It seemed to be busier than ever. Perhaps, Kendall thought, they all had dry mouths after watching the delicious young man perform, just like he did! At least behind the bar, in the gloom, it was less obvious just how much James' performance had affected Kendall himself.

On stage, the twins who he had seen perform earlier in the week had taken over, giving Byron time to slip upstairs and deal with James. He brought the boy out of his cage and lead him back to his room. He flopped back on his bed, a huge grin on his face. Performing always made him feel good and he had truly enjoyed dancing for Camille. It had felt so good to touch and be touched in return, though in his mind he had been imagining what it would be like to dance like that with Kendall. He couldn't believe how much that boy was haunting his thoughts and dreams. Subconsciously, he found himself dropping his hand down to palm himself while he waited for Byron to change his chains over.

When the MC turned back to clip his chain on and remove his performance leash, he noticed what the boy was doing and slapped his hand away from his groin.

"Erm? I'm still here, you horny little fuck! Do ya wanna wait 'til you're alone to do that, please?" But he laughed as James blushed slightly as he pulled his hand away.

"Sorry, Byron."

"Did touching that girl turn you straight or something?" He chuckled as he reached in and swapped the chains over on James' collar.

"Oh yeah! Of course! I suddenly want tits and pussy!" He stretched and put his hands behind his head. Out of temptations way for a while.

"Sure that you weren't thinking about Kendall getting all up close and intimate?" His eyes twinkled as James blushed darker and lowered his eyes.

"Oh! Nothing gets past me, sweetie. I saw that kiss you blew him. The way that you were looking at him when he brought the dagger to me." He rested his hand on James' shoulder, smiling kindly down at the still near-naked youth.

"You know that nothing can happen between you don't you? No matter how much you want it to? How much I'd really like you to have someone special. It is not allowed." He leant in and gently placed a kiss on James' forehead. He was the only one to be allowed to get away with showing the boy physical affection in that way. He noted the sad look that had washed over the youth's face.

"But no-one can stop me thinking about him." James stated, a soft smile returning to his lips.

"No, dearheart." He leant in close to James' ear. " In your dreams you can fuck the shit outta that boy!" He growled into his ear before finally turning and heading to the door.

"Be back soon! Then you can shower and get ready for bed, OK?"

" Well don't make it too soon! I'm gonna be busy!" He yelled after Byron with a cheeky grin.

He heard the MC chuckle as he closed and locked the door. He waited what he considered a respectable amount of time before reaching down to return to thinking about Kendall. He began to move his hand firmly over his leather covered hardness.

Downstairs, in the back office, Griffin and his bodyguard were busy viewing the DVD's that had been delivered earlier in the day for his approval. There was a good trade in movies of the performers from Twisted Desires, James, of course, brought in the most money. But Carlos was popular enough to warrant his own discs and they also supplied compilations of various other acts, including Byron. But as well as the legal and reasonably 'decent' films that they supplied there was also a thriving underground trade in less savoury visuals. Of the two new films of this type that had been recently made, one consisted of various nights in the VIP lounge with Carlos as the star. To any sane person, the views of the beautiful Latino being stripped and beaten, before being visciously and repeatedly raped would have turned the stomach. Griffin on the other-hand found it quite fun to watch. Especially when the boy cried for respite or release. And knowing, as he did, that just out of sight , Byron sat watching with tears running down his face, unable to help his young charge escape from the horror of what was being done to him. He watched the boy's face delighting in knowing that those pleading chocolate eyes were looking straight at the MC and just how much it tore the man up to watch Carlos in so much pain.

But Carlos was his property he could do what he wanted with him. He paid for the boy from his previous owners when he was just sixteen. He didn't really know where they had got the boy from and to be honest, he didn't really care. Carlos had been the plaything of a group of paedophiles, until they had become bored with abusing his youthful body. They decided that they had two choices of how to dispose of the boy. Sell him to a new pervert or kill him and film it and make some money off of him that way. They decided to do the former, though whether that was the better outcome for Carlos was debatable.

The odd thing about Griffin though, was that for all the violence and pain that he genuinely liked to see inflicted on the young men he employed here, they had to be of age. No one under the age of eighteen. He didn't mind them performing on the stage a little younger than that, but no sexual abuse of minors. So when he was offered the battered and half-starved sixteen year-old he was appalled and disgusted with how the boy had been used and immediately agreed to their over inflated price for him. He wasn't bothered by the large amount of money that he gave the man that delivered the boy, late one Thursday night. As the man made his way back to his car, one of Griffin's security guys waited out of sight and blew the guy's brains out with a revolver. He returned the ten thousand dollars to his boss and the next morning the guy was on the front page of the papers. Victim of a mugging gone wrong.

Carlos woke up the next morning, clean, warm and well-fed and untouched for the first night that he could remember in the last two years. He was driven to a private hospital the next afternoon where a gruff doctor examined the frightened boy and took blood samples for various tests. Little did he know, but it would be the last time he would leave the club. On returning to the club, surprisingly with a relatively clean bill of health, he was taken to his room and fitted for his collar. He had been terrified when it was fitted. Expecting the abuse to quickly resume from a new group of men, instead he had met Byron for the first time. Griffin remembered the boy cowering on his bed in the corner of the room, curled as small as he could, crying for the huge man not to hurt him. Byron just sat on the end of his bed, watching him and talking to him like one would talk to a frightened animal. Carlos couldn't believe that no one here seemed to want to hurt him or use him. If only he had realised that it was just 'Not yet' instead of 'Never'.

He'd been taught to strip, to work the poles, to dance, all things that he actually found he enjoyed. He took to the stage for the first time just after he'd been at the club for a year. His abused body had healed by then and he proved to be an energetic and rather cheeky performer and the patrons loved him. But then he reached eighteen and the abuse had started up again.

Griffin sat watching as the film came to an end, with the VIP reaching his climax and pulling out to leave the sobbing boy with cum and his own blood dripping down his shaking thighs as he lay over the end of the bed that he had been tied to. As he looked up, his assistant came rushing over to him. He glanced up at the man, he looked a little excited.

"Yes, Brown? What do you want?" He snapped. He didn't like to be disturbed when he was watching films.

"Mr Griffin. Sir. There is something on the live feed that we thought that you would want to see." He gave a nervous smile and reached across to change the channel on the screen that Griffin had been viewing the movies on. Throughout the club there were security cameras watching what was going on around the place. There were also cameras that some people didn't realise were there. The staff changing rooms, the garden where James exercised, one in Carlos' room. And two in James' room. And these were the cameras that were showing the activity that Paul Brown thought that Griffin would like to be aware of. Because he understood that the images being captured were pure gold when it came to the sale of the black-market DVD's.

James was now alone in his room, oblivious to the cameras that he didn't know caught his every moment in his room, except for when the lights were out. He had turned the television on and the volume high to mask the sounds from the club below and then settled himself back onto his bed. He ran his fingers through his hair and stretched and gave his body a little shake as he prepared to take care of the the need that he had been feeling since he first noticed Kendall, earlier that night. Fuck! How he wanted that boy! He slid his hand down his body and began to palm himself through his clothing again. He glanced up at the boy-band singing their hearts out on the television screen and thought how none of them were a patch on his green eyed obsession.

He let out a deep moan as his fingers reached beneath to tease firmly at his balls as he felt his cock hardening as the blood thundering though his body flooded his groin. He bent his legs, feet planted on the comforter draped over his bed and slowly spread his knees. He continued to rub furiously through his barely there clothing, his free hand snaked over his muscular chest, finding the ring through his hard nipple and twisting it slightly, groaning ever louder at the mixture of pain and pleasure that it caused. His eyes fluttered shut as he arched his body and freed his mind to explore all the erotic thoughts that haunted his mind. His hips began to thrust slowly and steadily into thin air as he writhed and moaned, tongue slipping out to lick at his soft lips, teeth biting down on his bottom lip from time to time.

He stayed as he was for a while, enjoying the stimulation he was giving himself, but he soon needed more. Skin on skin. Even if it was just his own fingers exploring his aroused body. He arched his ass up off of the bed and wriggled out of the fishnet shorts, pulling them down his long legs and dropping them to the floor beside his bed. He settled back and gave himself a firm squeeze before glancing down at his waist and finding the buckle on his hip that held the leather pouch in place. He was soon arching up again, pulling the strap out from underneath himself and sending the garment flying through the air to join the previous item with a flick of his wrist. He settled himself back into the covers and then finally he wrapped his fingers around the hard, throbbing length of his cock.

He shuddered and arched up into his fist, loudly moaning with pleasure. It surprised even himself a little as he heard, "Oh Kendall!" Slip from his lips. His eyes closed again as he began to stroke himself firmly, thumb sweeping roughly over the slit on the up-stroke, spreading the pre-cum that leaked out over the sensitive head, then down the throbbing shaft. He threw his head back as the pleasure began to tingle low in his belly as thoughts of those damn green eyes swam through his mind. He bit down hard on his bottom lip, hips beginning to thrust upwards in time with his teasing fingers, head turning to the side as he strained to increased the sensations sweeping through his naked body. In his mind, Kendall was stretched out on top of him, dressed in that damn stupid bar-keeps uniform he wore. James imagined running his hands down the blond's back, over his waist and down to squeeze and tease the flesh of his perfect ass. That was one thing that outfit was good for! He had to admit that he liked how much of Kendall's ass it allowed him to see. His spare hand slipped further under himself as he lifted and dropped his ass from the bed, pulling firmly on his tightening balls before slding further underneath to gently tease at his virgin hole. It felt so good. He imagined Kendall moving against him, his fingers being the ones teasing at James' body. He let out a long shaky whine, pushing up hard into his grip again, thighs shaking as he slowly tried to push his finger inside himself, but he was too tight and too dry.

Stopping pleasuring himself for a while, he sat up and made his way into the little bathroom area, returning moments later with tube in his hand. Byron had given it to him a couple of months back. 'Just in case'. Just because no one else was allowed to touch him, didn't mean he wasn't allowed to touch himself. He sat back on the bed and returned to running his fingers over his hard flesh while reading the label on the tube. Deciding that the only thing to do was experiment, he flipped the cap and squirted a small amount of the thick, clear jelly onto his middle finger before stretching out on his bed again. He quickly returned to circling said finger around the tight ring of muscle, gasping a little at the extra sensation the silky slickness brought to the act.

He gave a loud groan, eyes opening wide as he tried to insert the digit inside again. This time it slid in to the first joint and he cried out as it opened him. He lay there for a while, moving his finger slowly, concentrating on the sensation as he began to fuck himself on his finger. Soon he was taking it deeper, but still wanting more, even as his other hand returned to jerking his hard cock. He rubbed a second finger against the first, spreading the lube as he prepared to take more. The second finger inside him, hurt like hell, but the pleasure quickly increased too, hips and fist moving in synch. Fuck it felt so good! He wondered what it would be like to have a real cock inside of him, to have someone else in control of the thrusting, giving him the release that his body was craving. His fingers slipped deeper, almost of their own accord and he crooked them up, knowing that his sweet spot was in there somewhere! The loud curse that slipped from his lips as he jerked his hips violently up told him that he had found it. He gave a few more experiment prods before deciding that the sensation was just too extreme, he needed time to get used to it. He pulled his fingers out and lay there for a while with his chest heaving as he contemplated what to do next to get where he still desperately wanted to get.

He rolled over and came up on his knees. Shaking his head he glanced down at his body, chuckling to himself as he ran his fingers over the smears of glitter still clinging to his skin. His hand travelled slowly over his pecs, taking time to play with the gold ring again, to tease the other nipple between thumb and forefinger, head dropping forward as he breathed hard through the tingling pleasure. He let out another moan of pleasure and tossed his head back, dragging his teeth over his bottom lip. His eyes seemed to lose focus as he slid his other hand back down to the base of his cock, squeezing briefly before beginning to pump himself again. He took another shuddering breath and dropped forward onto all fours, then further down to support himself on his forearm. He stared blindly around the room, thinking of Kendall again. He imagined him now, flat on his back beneath James' own, larger more muscular body. He fisted his cock again and began to thrust his hips hard, driving his body powerfully through the channel of his fingers. Kendall, he imagined, would be much tighter than that but it was enough for the fantasy in his head. The tingling in the pit of his stomach became more intense. He was getting so damn close. His cries and curses filled the air as he pushed himself closer to release, in his mind, Kendall held him tight, encouraging him on with filthy words and caresses. It seemed to rush up on him all at once. Balls tightening as he released several long ribbons of cum over his pumping fingers and the bed-clothes beneath him. He virtually screamed his pleasure as his thighs trembled from the intensity as he kept his fingers moving, trying to draw his orgasm out for as long as possible. All too soon, his arm and legs gave out on him and he collapsed onto the bed, landing directly in his own sticky immissions that covered the bed-clothes. He managed to push himself up, just a little and roll onto his back to lay there, panting harshly, chest heaving as he waited for his heart to calm from the way it currently pounded in his chest. The blood pounding through his veins echoed in his head and he just closed his eyes, listening to the sound while still thinking about Kendall. He imagined what it would be like to have the boy close to him in the afterglow. Snuggled close, trading lazy kisses and gentle words, arms holding each other tight.

But he knew that it could never happen. Not while he was still here. Only now did he seem to become aware again of the chain trailing from his collar. He lifted the linked metal up in front of his face and studied it as his breath finally seemed to calm back down to close to normal. But one day he was gonna be free. He was determined that it would happen. One day. And he would have someone to love. Someone to love him back. Someone to touch and let him touch them in return. At the moment, his mind screamed for it to be Kendall, but he just wanted someone, anyone. He just needed to be loved. Taking another deep breath he snuggled back into the covers and felt himself beginning to slip into sleep. Byron would wake him when he arrived, there was no need for him to wait for him awake. He twisted slightly onto his side and just let himself drift away. Kendall's smile following him into oblivion.

Griffin sat watching everything that happened on James' bed on the screen in front of him. There was no sound on the feed, but that didn't matter really. There had been very few actual words from the boys lips as he pleasured himself and if it had been important it would have been very easy to get someone to read his lips. But it had been pretty obvious from his expression what most of those words had been. Curses and 'Oh God' had been said quite a lot. He had a pretty good idea that James was fantasing about the new bar-keep, but as long as no physical interaction went on, as Byron had already said, he didn't give a fuck what went on in the boy's head. And if it got him more performances like the one the boy had just unintentionally given to the camera, he was more than happy. This film was going to sell extremely well and make him a hell of a lot of money. He had been beginning to grow a little bored of the youth's performance, but he supposed now he could put the inevitable end-game he had planned for James off for a little while longer.

He reached forward and flicked the screen back to the previous channel and reached to eject the disc of Carlos' abuse from the machine and replace it with the last disc that he was reviewing tonight. The image flicked up on the screen. The whole screen was filled with the sobbing terrified face and green eyes of Chris the young, very camp bar-keep that Kendall had replaced. The one that was supposed to have fled for a better job in Cologne. He was being held down over a table by Lucas and one of the dancers while Griffin's enormous African American body-guard pounded into his naked body. On the recording, Griffin's voice could be heard telling the boy why this was being done to him. Why he was being punished in this way. Because of a kiss. A very brief, almost chaste kiss, but a kiss none the least. His punishment was because of who he had shared that kiss with. The untouchable, The Diamond. James.

As the boy continued screaming and crying for release, he began to bable apologies. Promising that he would never even look at the boy again, let alone touch him. But Griffin had already made his decission. He knew that Chris would never get the chance to see James again, let alone touch the beautiful, virginial young man. He suddenly walked into view on the screen, he was masked, as all the other participants in the room were but Chris. He stopped next to the huge mountain of a man.

"Are you close?" He asked. The man just grunted and nodded while the boy screamed loud again.

"Do it!" He handed something to the man and then stepped away from the table that the unfortunate guy was pinned to . The camera closed in on the boy's face as he was grabbed by his hair, screaming in terror as his head was ripped back, green eyes going wide as the man grinned a sickly grin into his face. One more hard thrust and the guy was releasing into the terrified boy's body. But Chris did not have to worry about any more pain. As the man's body shuddered with pleasure his free hand suddenly whipped round in front of the boy's face. He barely had a second to recognise the object gripped in his fist as the dagger that he had taken to Byron on stage every week during James' act, before the jagged blade tore though his soft flesh. It severed his jugular, blood spraying up and spashing the lens of the camera. His body shook briefly, then he was dropped to the table. Dead.

Griffin's voice was heard again. His remark meant for Lucas and the other youth, who's help in this job had been both punishment and a warning.

"And that is why you NEVER do something I told you not to." He walked back into view and wrenched Chris's head back again and stared into the lifeless green eyes, a sneer on his lips.

"I hope that his kiss was worth it!" He let go of the hair and the beautiful boy flopped back down. He turned to his body-guard, who had now pulled his pants back up and was waiting for his next order. Griffin turned away from the body on the table.

"Burn him." He growled and stalked out of the room.

_**Please read and review! Until next week! Luv and blessings, AllieXXX**_


	10. Chapter 10

Caged Diamond 10

_**A/N Thank-you for all the wonderful reviews! Glad that you liked last weeks chapter. This chapter has been a little difficult, for some reason, but I think I got it in the end. Things are gonna start moving a little faster soon, so hold on to your hats! Until next week, Allie XXX**_

When Byron returned a little over two hours later to take the boy through to the shower room, he found him sleeping peacefully. Stark naked and smeared with both the remnants of his stage make-up and his own bodily fluids, but as usual, the same angelic look that Byron expected. He chuckled softly and shook his head as he took in the view. So similar to the very first time that he had seen the boy on the day that Griffin had purchased him. Though he hadn't been naked then and it had not been a natural sleep.

James had arrived at Twisted Desires, late one Wednesday night, three years previously. His mother had once been a beautiful young cheerleader with good prospects for her future until her football playing jock of a boyfriend got her pregnant. He left her just two weeks before James was born and she had never heard from him again. Her parents had already thrown her out of the house when they found she was pregnant so she ended up in a refuge for single mothers. Before she had her baby, she had intended to move to Hollywood to pursue her dreams of being a dancer and she did make it to LA and get work dancing. Just not the type of dance she had intended. James was brought up in a strip club. To be fair, it wasn't anything like the club he lived in now. It was a burlesque club with none of the VIP extras that this club dealt in. Entertainment and titilation but not the sex and violence that Carlos was used to. The owner, a huge balding guy named Gustavo looked after the girls who worked his club well, prtecting them from unwanted attention. James himself was rather spoilt living there, the ladies and staff doting on the boy as he lived his life oblivious to what was going on around him. But when he was almost twelve his mother met a man and left the club to move in with him, taking her son with her.

Everything was fine for a while, then things began to change. James began to notice changes in his mother, both in her looks and her behaviour. She and her partner started to go out a lot and stay out. Sometimes they didn't get home until the early hours of the morning, occasionally they didn't come home until it actually was morning. When they got home, James would be asleep on the couch, often hungry because they had told him that they were going to get food when they left, but then they had forgotten to come back. They met someone, something happened and they couldn't get back. But James was not stupid, he quickly worked out that something was wrong, something to do with the weird smelling things that they were smoking. And eventually, the things that they were injecting into themselves. One night after they had left, James left the house and accidentally let the door slam shut behind him, he ended up sitting on the steps half the night, eventually falling asleep, curled up on the stone step. By the time his mother arrived back, one of the neighbours had noticed him and was just about to call the cops. They assured her that it was fine, he had slept on the porch because he had had a fight with his mom. Typical teenage behavior she had claimed and the neighbour seemed to buy it.

After that, they decided that they couldn't risk anything like that happening again, his mother still seemed to dote on him, but it was becoming pretty clear that the boyfriend would rather that the boy was gone. He came home with a bottle of powerful sleeping pills and every night, before they went out, he would give James a drink, with the pill ground up and mixed with the liquid. He didn't even realise why he felt so tired at first, dropping off to sleep within an hour of them leaving and not waking again until after they had come home. His mother would come snuggle with him when she got back and he did love to be held by her, She would stroke his hair and tell him how pretty he was, how much she loved him, how she would always be there for him. It made him feel happy to wake up in her embrace. Even though he was not oblivious to the deteriation in her health and her looks. One morning when he woke in her arms, she was cold and unmoving. James was alone.

The boyfriend didn't want to be stuck with a fifteen year old boy. With the mother he had ended up pimping her out, she paid for the drugs and the lifestyle that he wanted. He didn't see how he was supposed to live without any money coming in. While out walking the back streets to meet with his dealer he ended up outside of Twisted Desires. Gays disgusted him, one of the reason's he hated James. Even at fifteen the boy was already sure of his sexuality, perhaps he could work here? He was pretty enough that the fags should love him. So he paid at the door and made his way inside, trying hard to ignore what was going on inside and asked to speak to the owner. At first they had tried to palm him off with Bitters, but he was adamant that he wanted to the top man and by luck, Griffin was actually there that night. He took the man into his office where they dicussed the man's business idea. He wanted to pimp James out to the patrons of the club. Griffin was not impressed. He explained to him that the only boys available for sex here worked exclusively for him, no one else. But the man was desperate to get the boy earning or out of his home. So he offered to sell James to him, telling him what a find he was, young and pure, quite muscular for his age and extremely 'pretty'. He used the word like it was something awful and to him it was. No man should look like that, hazel eyes with long lashes, rosy cheeks and soft delicate looking lips. Griffin raised an eyebrow, then offered the guy ten thousand dollars, the same as he had 'paid' for Carlos only a few weeks before. The guy almost took his hand off snatching the offered money from Griffin. He snatched it back, telling him he got the money, when Griffin got the merchandise. The man didn't even flinch at a living person being described like that.

The man dashed away, back to where James was sleeping a heavily drugged sleep on the couch as usual. Somehow the man managed to get him out of the house and into his car. He didn't drive it much, the gas was getting expensive, but soon he was gonna have money to keep him going until he could find another stupid bitch to sell to the customers. This time he would make sure that they didn't have a kid. By the time they arrived back at the club most of the customers had left, Griffin was waiting in his office for the guy to return, Byron was just checking in on Carlos before he left for home. He got to the bottom of the spiral staircase just as the man came rushing in the doors, past the security guard, and headed towards Griffin's office. Byron was just about to head out the door when he heard Griffin calling to him from his office.

"Byron! Could you come here for a moment, please?" Byron gave a big sigh and rolled his eyes before turning and strolling across the empty dancefloor towards the office.

"Coming!" He called back, schooling his face into a neutral expression, eyes hiding how damn pissed off he was feeling.

When he got into the office, Griffin was sitting at his desk with a pile of money in front of him on the desk and his bodyguard behind him. The short man sat on a chair opposite the owner, greedy, piggy eyes focused on the money.

"Sir." He nodded to his boss. He wanted to ask him what the fuck he wanted, he had his guard with him so Byron didn't see what he needed him for.

"Ah! Byron!" He gave a sickly smile. He could tell that the MC was pissed, no matter how well he thought he was hiding it.

"I'm just about to make a new purchase." What the hell did that have to do with him? Ah! Did he mean another innocent young boy like the still terrified Latino now asleep upstairs? Griffin guestured to his body guard.

"Abdul here is going to go get him for me as, apparently, he is sleeping. I need you to settle him in for the night in the room next to young Carlos' for me. Do you mind?" Whether he minded didn't come into it, he knew well enought to never say 'no' to Griffin.

"Of course not, Sir. Shall I go open the room up so that he can be brought straight up?" Griffin just nodded and got to his feet. All the men left the room, leaving the money on the table for now. James', well, 'step-father' he supposed he was, led the huge guy outside to his car and opened the car door revealing the boy curled up on the back seat. The massive guy picked him up like he was nothing and carried him back into the club, then up the spiral staircase to the room where Byron was just straightening the sheet and had folded the comforter to the bottom of the bed.

James' face was curled against the guards shoulder so none of them had actually been able to see whether the man had been telling the truth about his looks. But when he dropped the virtually unconscious boy onto the bed, he rolled over onto his back.

Byron was pleasantly surprised. The boy was not just pretty, he was stunningly beautiful. Almost flawless skin, soft hair that was slightly curled and long, delicate lashes. His body, hidden beneath a loose t-shirt and jeans was long and slender with reasonably well formed muscles. He looked extremely young and that worried Byron a little, so he felt that he should ask the questions that no one else seemed interested in.

"What's his name?" The man seemed surprised to be asked. Strange.

"Oh. James, his name is James." Byron nodded and moved closer, pulling the conforter over the sleeping boy.

"How old?"

"Umm? Fourteen? Oh no. Fifteen. He was fifteen a few months ago." Too bloody young to be living in this place, Byron thought. He wasn't sure if Griffin would approve, but he had to ask.

"And how come you have him? Where is his family?" The man seemed a little embarrassed, he hadn't expected the questioning, he glanced at Griffin but the grey haired man just stood there looking down at his new aquisition.

"He was my girlfriend's kid. She died." Nothing else he really knew about the boy, to be honest. "Do you need to see his junk? He asked the MC. Byron gave him a slightly puzzled look. "His body? His ass and his..." he guestured to his own groin. Byron shook his head fiercely and stepped back from the bed, hoping that Griffin wouldn't ask to see the poor boy's naked body. But Griffin only asked something that had been on Byron's mind too.

"So when should we expect him to wake up? What did you give him?" The man looked at him and then at James before admitting what he had done.

"It's just a little sleeping pill. We. I give them to him to keep him safe when he is left alone. It doesn't hurt him."

"And when should we expect him to wake?" Griffin asked again. The man was quiet for a moment as he thought about it and worked out how much longer the pill would keep the kid comatose.

"He's normally awake by about eight, nine o'clock in the morning." He gave a nervous smile but Griffin just gave a tight nod.

"Well then, Byron can you please make sure that you are here with him when he wakes up. He'll probably wonder where he is." Byron shut his eyes but nodded his assent.

"Yes, sir." It was already gone two am. He wasn't going to get a lot of sleep tonight if he needed to be back at the club for eight.

"Make sure you lock the door when you leave. Goodnight Byron." With that he led the man back down to his office to pay for his new purchase.

Byron sat on the bed watching the sleeping youth for a while, wondering what the hell was going to happen to him once he woke up and more so, what would happen to him when he reached eighteen. He had no problem with the thought of this beautiful child growing up to become a performer here. It was the other things that happened that he abhorred. The thought of that beautiful young face twisted in pain horrified him. Another one for him to protect and care for then. He could at least try to do that for them.

Byron left James sleeping while he got his things ready for his shower. He briefly left him alone and found Sean the cook finishing up in the kitchen and asked him to change James' bed while he was in the shower. Only when he had everything ready did he finally shake the naked boy awake.

James gave him a wry grin as he sat up, rubbing at his eyes and knowing what the older guy was probably thinking about the mess on the bedclothes and James' toned body.

"Have fun did we?" Byron deadpanned. James did have the decency to blush, just a little and to drop one hand down to cover himself, but Byron threw a towel at him and waited for him to slide off of the bed to follow him to the shower down the corridor, towel wrapped round his waist. He had already unlocked the chain from the metal bedframe and had the chain coiled over his left arm.

"Come on you perverted little beast! Shower." He gave a gentle tug, more out of fun than anything and James began to follow him out.

"There is nothing 'little' about me, Byron!" He declared and the MC chuckled and shook his head.

"As I have frequently seen!"

"Nothing new to you, I shouldn't think!" James laughed. "Bet you've even seen Bitters naked, haven't you?" Byron gave a dramatic shudder.

"Please! No! Don't even make me imagine that! Ick!"

"What about Kendall?" He raised an eyebrow as the MC tried not to smirk and failed.

"Oh yeah! I've seen Kendall in all his naked glory! First day I met him!"

"And?" James grinned at him in anticipation.

"And what?" Byron played dumb.

"What is it like?"

"What's what like?" James huffed in exasperation.

"His body!" Byron just smirked, wanting the boy to say what he actually wanted to know. James stopped and a blush crept over his cheeks. "How is he hung?"

Byron roared. Throwing his head back as the sound echoed off of the walls around them. He moved in close, forehead almost touching James', eyes flashing with amusement and voice low and husky.

"You just wanna know how big his cock is, don'tcha?" James didn't answer. His eyes closed and when the long lashes flicked open again his hazel irises had darkened as his pupils dilated. Byron could see how his breathing was quickening again. Byron pulled away, still chuckling at the boy's flustered state.

"Haven't seen it when it is standing to attention, but it was an ok length I suppose, if he is the kinda thing that gets your engine reving! And I know how much he gets yours going." He reached forward and poked at one of the splotches of drying cum on James' exposed abs.

"Did you have a nice time jerking off before you had your little nap?" He asked the brunette, breaking away and continuing down the corridor and into the staff changing room. There was a small shower room at the back, but most of the staff didn't bother with it, prefering to go home and use the privacy of their own bathrooms. For James this was his home though.

Byron sat on a chair outside of the shower stall, clutching the end of the chain while James cleaned himself off under the hot water. Glancing down at his nude body he noticed that his cock was beginning to stiffen again as he thought about Kendall. He wanted to deal with it now but even as he gave it a first little squeeze Byron's voice came drifting through from the other side of the slightly ajar glass door.

"You nearly finished in there? I wanna get home!" When James didn't answer straight away he guessed what the boy was doing. "Hey! Come on! You already got off once tonight! At least wait until you're in bed!" James gave a little sigh and shut off the water. Wrapping the towel around himself he stepped out of the shower and followed Byron back to his room. Once his chain was fastened back to the bedframe, Byron gave him a gentle kiss on his forhead and left him for the night.

"Sweet dreams, Dearheart." He whispered, reaching up to ruffle the boy's hair. James leant into his shoulder, closing his eyes as he absorbed the affection of his friend.

"Goodnight. Love you." He kissed Byron's cheek and wrapped his arms around him in a comforting hug. How he wished that he could go home with Byron. No chain, no collar, no locked door. Just lay in a bed in a room with windows and no need for the light in the little bathroom to break the absolute pitch darkness of his prison. He'd had enough of this now. He wanted to leave, needed to get away. Byron felt him shake slightly as he hugged him harder and for longer than usual. He'd had enough of this too. Time was coming for changes. He had to get away and take his boys with him. All of them.

When he finally broke the embrace with the younger man he felt cold and numb. Thinking about the cold way Griffin dictated the lives of these human beings that he considered his property was beginning to infuriate him. He did as he was told out of fear. Not for himself, for those who couldn't get away or defend themselves. He'd lost count of the number of times he had been told that it was 'his fault' when Carlos or one of the young dancers had been beaten or raped because he had answered back. He didn't do that so much now, prefering to keep everything bottled up inside rather than to see one of his young charges screaming in pain. Carlos still got it because he worked in the VIP room of course, but, as long as he kept his mouth shut and did as he was told, most of the other boys got left alone now. But Griffin always hold the threat of violence over his head. And then, of course, there was Bill. As far as Griffin was concerned, Byron's German pretty-boy still belonged to him and he could take him back anytime he wanted. But Byron refused to be bullied by Griffin any longer. He gave the beautiful teen an affectionate kiss on his forehead before leaving him to his bed and his dreams which he suspected would be in no way 'sweet'. Good for him.

Byron gathered his own things and made his way out of the building, waving goodnight to the nightguard as he slipped out into the cool night air. He was determined now that he would not be working in this hell-hole for much longer. He had plans and soon he would put them in action. And then, they would all be free.

_**Wasn't sure whether to give James' 'step-father' a name, but in the end I decided that he didn't deserve one as he didn't warrant being remembered! Horrible man! Hope you enjoyed it. Please read and review! Allie XXX**_


	11. Chapter 11

Caged Diamond 11

_**A/N Good evening, my friends! Sunday again already! Please read and enjoy! Thank you for all the reviews and favourites and follows. They make me very happy! Until next week!**_

By the time Kendall arrived back home he felt like he was dead on his feet. He just about made it to the shower to wash off the make-up still on his skin and the sweat from his busy night's work. On the long walk home his mind had still been full of James, replaying his performance over and over, losing himself to another world far away from the grimey backstreets that he wandered through. By the time he was out of the shower and ready for his bed, thoughts of the beautiful brunette were back in his mind with avengence. But he was just too tired to take time to help the filthy thoughts swimming through his mind along. Snuggling under his covers, he soon dropped off to sleep. Within half an hour of slipping into sweet oblivion, Kendall's eyes began to flicker beneath his closed eye-lids.

He was in the club, but it was almost completely empty. A single spotlight shone down onto the stage, illuminating a single chair in the middle. An empty chair. Dry ice drifted across the stage and music filled the air as he walked slowly across the dancefloor towards the stage. He glanced down at himself, he wasn't dressed for work. He was wearing jeans and a black t-shirt, for some reason he was bare-foot and he knew that he was wearing nothing else beneath the denim. Looking back up at the stage, James appeared. Wearing tight black jeans and a black stetson, tilted forward slightly, and nothing else. Kendall stopped dead and stared at him, James lifted his head and stared back, a soft smile on his lips and a glint in his eye. It took a while for Kendall to realise what was different about this James. He wasn't wearing a collar.

Moving towards the front of the stage, he straddled the chair, leaning forward to rest his forearms on the rail at the back. He pushed the brim of the hat up with one finger, still staring into Kendall's green eyes. The music swirled behind him and he lifted his ass from the seat and began to sway to the music, head tilted and a coy look on his face. Kendall felt himself hardening as he watched him begin his performance, a special one, just for Kendall's benefit. He dropped his hips and twisted his body, one hand gripping the back of the chair as he pulled it towards himself, balancing it on the front legs only. Pulling it closer he began to thrust his hips towards the tilted chair, dropping his head back a little and letting a deep sensual moan slip from his lips. Kendall was on the stage in front of him the next moment, this was a dream, anything could happen. James continued grinding against the chair, his moans becoming louder by the second, he smiled at Kendall and licked his lips. Stopping his thrusting he stepped slightly back from the chair and spun it around on one leg, setting it back down on all four facing Kendall.

James strolled round to the front and sat down on the chair, looking up at Kendall, his hazel eyes hooded and dark. Kendall didn't even have to think about it, stepping close he slung one leg over James and settled himself down on the brunette's thighs. His hands rested on the back of the chair behind James and the James placed his own on Kendall's waist which was now bare as his t-shirt had disapeared. Leaning in close Kendall touched his lips to James', brushing against the soft lips again and again before finally capturing his bottom lip between his teeth before plunging his tongue into the boy's mouth. His arms wrapped around James' shoulders, pulling him closer, he felt the hands on his waist slide down and back, settling on his ass and pressing Kendall closer to him. They broke their kiss and Kendall sat up straighter on his lap, looking down between them to where their prominant erections tented their jeans as James began to slowly roll his hips, grinding his hardness against Kendall's. For a while, neither boy could pull their eyes away from the sight, the breathing of both becoming slow and deep. Finally Kendall let out a long, low growl and dropped his head back as he moved in counterpoint to James, increasing the pressure and the growing pleasure in his aroused body. James took advantage of the other boy's exposed throat and began to place light, nipping kisses on the soft flesh. Kendall whined louder and bucked his hips hard against James', eager for more contact, more stimulation. And because this was a dream, that is what he got.

The next moment, they were no longer on the chair on the stage, they were now on a bed. James' bed. The hat had disapeared along with their jeans and now it was Kendall giving soft kisses on James' exposed throat. Even in dreamland he appreciated the fact that James' throat was no longer encased in the thick leather of his collar, but soon his throat was abandoned as he trailed his kisses lower. Over the muscular chest, down across the perfect six-pack and then he reached his goal. Dream James' cock stood hard and proud, inches from Kendall's waiting mouth. He was salivating at the thought of taking that delicious looking apendage between his lips. James rolled his hips again, pushing his leaking tool against the blonde's moist lips. Kendall glanced up at him and let his tongue slip out to taste him. James' cry of pleasure as Kendall firmly licked across his slit filled the air. Fuck! It made the blonde's heart beat so fast hearing the cries and curses slip from those soft lips as he licked harder, then took him deep into his mouth.

Kendall shuddered as he pleasured James, feeling the pressure in his own groin increase. Glancing around himself, still working on James stiff cock like it was a candy-cane, he became aware that their position had changed again, His own cock was now thrust between James' sweet lips, his own hips moving as they coupled in a perfect sixty-nine. His body felt so good! He felt like he was floating, he began to pound into James, throwing his head back to release a cry of ecstacy. Their position changed again. He was tight inside James' virgin ass, his pleasure building quickly as he rammed his cock into the boy harder and harder. And beneath him, James just smiled up at him, an adoring look on his face as he watched Kendall as he sped their bodies towards heaven.

He felt the tightening in the pit of his stomach and arched back hard as his climax hit. He watched as his body released fierce jets of cum over the brunette's torso and groin, moments later James released himself, his cum hitting Kendalls abs and dripping back down onto his own. Kendall collapsed upon him, kissing him hungrily as his body began to relax again. He snuggled close to the brunette, head resting on the boy's shoulder as James nipped at his earlobe and whispered words of love into his ear. Kendall felt so calm. Warm and relaxed, and loved like he had never felt before.

In his quiet bedroom, Kendall's body stilled after the violent trembling that occured when he reached his climax in his sleep. Moving slightly as he subconsciously turned onto his back and drifted deeper into sleep.

Early the next morning, Byron was sitting at the counter in his kitchen with a cup of coffee and his phone in his hand. He was nervous about making this appointment, knowing as he did that Griffin would not take kindly to him contacting a rival club. Especially if he knew the reason why he was doing it. Club Roque was the entire opposite of Twisted Desires. High-class, tasteful and in full view of the passing tourists. In dealt in dinner and entertainment, beautiful dancing girls, cheeky, titilating and fun, plus some pretty damn good vocalists and comedians. Nothing like the nudity,sex and sideline in pain that Twisted Desires offered.

The phone was answered by the manageress who informed him that her name was Kelly Wainwright. He asked for an appointment with the owner as he had a proposition for him concerning his recent announcement that he intended to add male dancers to his mix. In particular, he had mentioned that he wanted artistic pole-dancers and as far as Byron was concerned, there was none better than James. Although she was hesitant when she realised who Byron was, she made arrangements for him to meet with both her and Gustavo at two o'clock Monday afternoon, it meant that he wouldn't be able to take James outside that day, but he was sure that the boy wouldn't mind if it lead to the result that he hoped it would.

Sunday afternoon Byron took both James and Carlos out to the courtyard garden with Kendall to help him and the three teens threw a football around for an hour or so. Byron sat on the chair around the tree with the end of James' chain clutched in his hand. Watching them play like this, like 'normal' boys lifted his mood. Only the obvious odity of James and Carlos' collars and, of course, the long chain that he held, spoiled the normality of the image. As he sat there he thought about the coming meeting and wondered how things would end up if his plans come to fruition. He pulled his attention back to the boys, noting the way that Kendall watched James as he threw the ball to the little Latino. Yeah, freedom from this place would also allow James to find intimacy with another and he was pretty sure that Kendall could be the one for James to explore his freedom with. Freedom from that damn chain too.

Sunday evening was quieter than Saturday. Carlos performed on the poles and also lap-danced for a couple of the VIP's. All went well until they reached that part of the evening that he always dreaded. Jett had been rather pissed that he hadn't been able to abuse the little Latino on the Thursday because he had been pre-booked by Griffin's accountant. The guy was here again tonight, watching Carlos with hungry eyes and the boy had blown kisses to the delighted youth. But unlike Jett, Logan did not have an unlimited amount of money and he himself was not able to pay for VIP access to the boy. Jett was going to take extra pleasure in knowing how much he obviously wanted the Latino, but couldn't have him. Logan watched as Byron walked towards the VIP couches where Carlos was currently sitting astride the lap of an older guy who had been nuzzling and kissing his throat and ear while a shorts-clad Carlos ground his ass against his clothed erection. Byron glanced in Logan's direction and gave a little smile, before continuing towards Jett. Now there was another person that he would gladly let 'play' with one of his boys. It was a shame that the boy wasn't able to purchase more time with Carlos, he was so gentle and Carlos was obviously attracted to him.

Jett smirked in Logan's direction as Carlos gave his client a kiss and took his fee from him and passed it to Byron as the MC led him to his final customer of the night. His heart dropped as he realised that yet again, he would be spending his Sunday night being used and abused by Jett. He supposed that Jett was attractive, but his cruel streak made his physical beauty pale to nothing. He was a sadistic bastard and Byron had long since realised that he never achieved his sexual peak until Carlos was screaming in agony beneath him. He got off on Carlos' pain. Carlos' eyes flashed with fear as Byron took his hand and passed it to Jett, he was never completely sure if he was going to make it through the night alive. At the least, he knew he was going to be in severe pain by the end of the night.

Monday afternoon, after making the excuse that he had a doctors appointment, Byron drove across LA to his meeting with Gustavo and his manageress. Before he left he had checked on his boys, seeing to their lunch and filling Carlos up with more pain-killers as he lay whimpering on his bed. As expected, Jett had taken him hard the night before, he'd also beaten him with a bamboo cane that had left vicious red welts over his ass, meaning that Carlos was unable to lay on his back without crying. It just doubled Byron's determination to get his boys out of that place before either one or both of them ended up dead.

As he entered the plush foyer of Club Roque, hostesses waited to welcome in the guests, his eyes widened as he recognised the girl before him. She may have been dressed in a basque, tiny shorts, high-heels and fishnets but there was no mistaking who it was. Camille, James' little fan-girl that he had lap-danced for on Saturday night. She was equally surprised to see Byron here at her place of work. She kinda hoped he didn't acknowledge her as though most of her friends and collegues were aware that she had an obsession with a male performer, none of them knew who he was or where he worked. Twisted Desires did not have a very good reputation among more reputable establishments. When Byron stopped dead and looked around the plush, greenery filled foyer she took a deep breath and fixed a smile on her face and stepped towards him. Luckily, before she got to him, her boss appeared at he the bottom of the roped off staircase and called to him instead.

Kelly Wainwright was a pretty woman, probably a little older than him, with long wavy hair and coco coloured skin. She shook hands with Byron and introduced herself before leading him up the stairs to Gustavo's office. Gustavo Roque was a rather large, balding man with an almost permenant scowl, but a surprisingly soft heart inside of his hard looking exterior. He looked rather uncomfortable in his suit and wore glasses with amber lenses. Apparently people found him intimidating, but not Byron. He had a boss that killed people, a grumpy man held no fear for him. When they entered his large office, he had his back turned to them, watching out the large window behind his chair at the group of girls dancing for the lunchtime visitors. Kelly gave a polite cough to attract his attention and he closed the blind over the window before turning round in his chair to look Byron up and down.

"Gustavo, this is Byron. He is the MC at Twisted Desires." She told him, guesturing to the tall man beside her, Byron leant forward and offered his hand to Gustavo. Gustavo gave him a disaproving look and growled a reply while hesitantly shaking the proffered hand.

"Oh I know exactly who you are. The question is. What does someone from that hell-hole want with me?" He waved his hand to the chair opposite his and Byron took a seat. Kelly went to leave but her boss stopped her.

"Sit down. let's see what he wants. You do know that we don't inflict pain on our performers, don't you? Or pimp them out to the highest bidder. " Yes, he definitely didn't approve of Twisted Desires. Byron wondered what he was going to say when the MC played his trump card?

"I heard that you were thinking of adding male performers." Byron told him.

"We already have male performers. Two comics and one of the singers are male."

"No. I understand that you want dancers. Guys that can work the poles?" Byron smiled expectantly.

"I don't know who told you that. But yes it is true. We want to add some more variety to the acts. But they will be expected to keep most of their clothes on and none of that moaning and grinding that your performers deal in." He frowned at Byron, did he actually think he would take one of the boys that worked his club here? He had a reputation to uphold.

"We have some very talented performers. Sensual more than sexual, and a little on the cheeky side too, that wouldn't damage the reputation of this place at all. I'm offering you 'The Diamond'. I take it you have heard of him? "

Gustavo raised an eyebrow at that and shared a look with Kelly. "I am aware of him. He is the boy in the cage?" Byron smiled and nodded and reached inside his coat for the pictures he had tucked away there.

"Yes. Have you ever seen him?" It was a long time since they had seen him and it was possible that even if they had seen him they wouldn't connect the dots.

"Can't say that I have. Have you,Kelly?" She shook her head.

"Nope. They do say that he is very pretty. For a boy." Byron shuffled the pictures he held and offered Gustavo a picture of James in his cage on a Saturday night. He was wearing tiny silver shorts and a mask tied over his eyes, barefoot with two silver scarves tied to his wrists and his short shiney chain on full view attaching him to the side of his cage. Gustavo, looked over the picture and passed it to Kelly, he saw her blanch slightly and thought for a second that she had recognised who he was.

"Do they keep him chained like that all the time? I heard that they do." She asked.

"Yes." Byron replied. "That is one of the reason's I want to get him out."

"And how do you propose to do that?" Gustavo enquired. "Griffin's prize performer?"

"Don't worry about that. That is my problem. I just want to know if you would be interested in employing him?" Byron reached for the next photograph. This was one that he had taken, not a professional looking print that the club had had taken. It was of James sitting under the tree in the garden, smiling into the camera for his friend. No costume, No make-up. Just James.

"So you intend to steal him from Griffin and then you'll pimp him out instead?" Gustavo obviously didn't get what Byron wanted to do. He'd have to explain it to him.

"I'm not intending to steal him. I want to free him. But I think he is good at what he does and would be good for your club. He would bring his rabid fans with him!" He laughed at that, then turned to look at Kelly and the way she was studying the picture in her hands.

"Do you recognize him yet?" Byron asked, his voice soft. She frowned at him. There was something familiar about the man in the picture. She thought it was something about the pursed lips and the eyes that showed through his mask.

"Should I?" She asked.

"Oh yes! He remembers you!"

"What?"

Byron decided not to pass her the picture of James in the garden just yet, instead he passed her a picture that he had taken in the first week that James had been at the club. He was sitting on his bed, looking up at the camera with tears in his eyes as Griffin had just had his chain fixed to his collar after he had tried to escape. Byron hated the picture but Griffin liked it because he felt that it showed the power that he had over his 'property'.

Kelly took the picture from him and just stared. Yes, she recognised the fifteen year-old in the picture. Her hand shook as she passed the picture to her boss. Gustavo cursed as he looked at the picture and Kelly looked like she was going to cry herself.

Byron felt awful showing him to her in this way and stared down at his hands before passing her the other picture.

"This one was taken just last week." He told her trying to smile as she snatched that one from his grip, pulling it close to study his face. "He told me that you called him Jamie and that no one else has since he left here. He misses you. Both of you." Gustavo had taken the pictures from Kelly and was studying them both. He suddenly looked angry.

"Griffin has James? He was a baby here. He lived in the club with his mother. She was a good dancer. Where is she? How the fuck did he end up in that place? Your place?" Byron smiled sadly.

"James' mother? Brooke? She left here for a guy? Yeah?" Kelly nodded.

"She said she loved him. I tried to stop her. He was bad news."

"Yeah. He was." Byron sighed. "From what I understand, he got her into drugs and then pimped her out."

"No! What about James?" The big man demanded.

"As far as we know, nothing was ever done to James, aside from doping him to keep him supposedly safe when they were out doing business. Brooke died of an overdose. And her lovely boyfriend tried to pimp James out in the club. When Griffin told him he wouldn't allow him to do that, he sold him to him instead." Kelly looked horrified.

"Has he been touched?" She knew that touching could be the least of someone's problem if they worked for Griffin.

"No. One hundred per cent not. That is kind of the appeal with James with the patrons. He is completely untouched. No one is allowed to be intimate with him."

"Well that is good, anyway." Gustavo decided. Byron didn't think it was. He was pretty sure that Griffin intended to give the boy a pretty nasty ending and keeping him pure was just to make sure that what was done to him at the end was extra horrific.

"So would you at least let him audition for you if I get him out?" He asked and reached for the last picture. "And perhaps his friend? I need to get this boy out too." He passed Kelly a picture of Carlos.

Gustavo leant over to look at the picture with Kelly. "I suppose he is quite attractive."

"He's cute!" Kelly enthused. "But is he talented? We can't just take them because we feel sorry for them you know." Yeah sure!

"Carlos is a good little performer, quite cheeky, but he has good moves."

"What does he do?" Gustavo asked, Byron noticed that he was clutching the picture of fifteen year-old James in his grip still and kept looking at it and brushing his thumb over the boy's tearful face.

"He's a good dancer. Works the poles too, not as good as James at that, but then James is amazing. "

"OK. If you get them out, I'll audition them. They can stay here too if they work for me. But they will be my employees and not my property or whatever shit it is Griffin claims them for." He reached across to shake Byron's hand again and stood to let him know that the meeting was over. "Please keep me up to date with what is happening. I will be in touch with you too. Good bye, Byron. " He went to offer the picture in his hand back to the flamboyant MC, but Byron could see that he really didn't want to give it up. Kelly was still clutching the other two pictures of James and the one of Carlos, smiling down at the face of the boy that had once been so important in her life. When Byron offered her his hand, she thought he was asking for the pictures back and sighed as she held them towards him. Byron smiled and pressed them back at her.

"No. You can keep those if you want. Hopefully next time I'm here I will be bringing him with me. " Kelly smiled and clutched the pictures to her heart and grinned a wide smile at him before taking his hand and squeezing it warmly before shaking his hand. She left the pictures on the desk and came round to walk him back down to the entrance.

Byron walked out into the warm afternoon sunshine and headed back to his car. He turned the radio up loud and drove back to the club to get ready for the evening performance. He felt happy, he had somewhere to take his boys once they were free from Griffin. The only problem now was how exactly was he going to get them away? Give him time and he hoped he would work that one out too. On arriving back at work, he went straight up to check on 'his boys'. James was fine, if a little bored. Carlos was fitfully sleeping through his pain. Byron stood watching over him for a while, soundlessly counting all the bruises and marks on display on his caramel skin. Poor boy.

God, he hoped that he was going to get them out.


	12. Chapter 12

Caged Diamond 12

_**A/N Happy Sunday readers! Thank you for all the follows and favourites and amazing reviews! I really didn't think this was going to get done this week, to be honest, cos I just felt, blurgh! today! Think my sugar was a little low. But here it is, another chapter! Enjoy!**_

By Wednesday Carlos was in much less pain and he was able to go out into the garden with James, Kendall and Byron again. He didn't feel up to running around though so he sat under the tree, with his head in Byron's lap watching while James and Kendall competed to see who could do the most push-ups. James was winning, partly because he was genuinely stronger and fitter than the blonde and partly because Kendall was far too interested in watching James to put enough effort into his own push-ups. He loved the way the muscles in James' back and shoulders flexed and his biceps were just to die for. The hazel-eyed God quickly realised that Kendall's heart didn't seem to be in the competition. A grin broke out on his face and he glanced up at Byron before switching to snapping his hips forward to grind against the soft grass, fake moans slipping between his lips. Kendall's eyes flew wide open and his jaw dropped just seconds before his arms gave way and he tumbled to his stomach. James collapsed down seconds later, but his was caused by laughter. He rolled onto his back still giggling and watched as his companion's face turned a delicate shade of pink.

"James!" Byron shouted across to him, "Stop teasing, you wicked boy!"

"Awww! But Byron! It's fun!" He retorted, turning back over onto his stomach to view where Kendall lay on his front, his face hidden in his folded arms. James found his embarrasment cute and he desperately wanted to reach out and touch the green eyed boy's pink cheek. Instead he steepled his fingers, rested his chin on his fingertips and stared, smiling, into Kendall's eyes.

"Do I make you flustered Kendall?" He asked, a wicked smile on his face. He bit down on his bottom lip, knowing that it was something that other's found sexy. He tilted his head as he waited to see if the blonde would answer at all. Kendall lifted his head just slightly, James flicked his tongue out over his top lip and Kendall found himself giving a barely perceivable shudder as desire coursed through his body. James noticed it though. Raising himself back up on his elbows, he flicked his eyes back up to see if Byron was watching and if he was showing any sign of negative reaction. He pushed himself up onto his knees, his eyes fixed on Kendall as he slid his hand down his body. He pressed his palm firm to his t-shirt covered flesh and let out a soft moan, spreading his knees as his hand decended. He reached his groin and began to palm himself, his body immediately beginning to react to the physical stimulation and the ideas popping up in his mind. He squeezed harder and rolled his hips forward, a soft growl slipping from his lips making Kendall curse and bite down on his own lip, eyes wide and breath slowing.

"You like that Kendall? Does it make you hot?" He brought his free hand up and slid his finger into his mouth, sucking hard on the digit while pumping it in and out between his pink lips. James' eyes fluttered closed and he dropped his head back, displaying his leather encased neck. Kendall was finding it extremely arousing, but also very confusing. He'd been told to never touch the boy and yet he was coming onto him like this?

"James!" Byron's voice was sharp, cutting through the erotic fog in both boy's heads. "I said stop it!" Pushing Carlos away from him he stood and stomped across the grass to stand between the star and the barkeep. James slowly pulled his finger from between his lips, the suction making a loud 'pop' as he did.

"I'm only teasing him! And I think he likes it! Do you want me Kendall?" He rolled his hips from side to side, his hand moving from his groin to rest on his thigh. He leant forward, hazel eyes burning into Kendall's green as the boy began to push himself up from the ground. "Are you getting hard, Kendall? He asked and tilted his head again. Kendall took a gulp of air and hoped that neither James nor Byron would notice just how hard he was. Byron grabbed at James' chain, pulling the brunette from his knees to stand eye to eye with him. His blue eyes were full of ice.

"I. Said. Stop!" The look on his face and the tone of his voice let James know that he was no longer finding his behaviour in any way amusing. Fuck! He closed his eyes and found his mind filled with the memory of Chris on that bed in the VIP room having his throat slit. All because he gave James a chaste little kiss. He couldn't allow James to encourage Kendall to think he might be able to get close to him. James' face fell, then he gave a soft smile to his friend before dropping his head forward and his shoulders drooped. He'd taken it a little too far. He knew the rules that Kendall would have been informed of.

"I'm sorry, Byron. " The sad tone of his voice almost broke Byron's heart. James was little more than a child, he should be able to do anything he wanted. Flirt with anyone that he wanted to. Byron wanted to take the pair of them to James' room, lock the door and let them just get on with whatever they wanted. But he knew that couldn't happen.

"I think that you should go back to your room now, James. " The boy whipped his head up and began to protest.

"Aww! Byron!" He whined. "We've only been out here for half an hour or so!" Carlos sat himself back up and then wandered over to join them. He didn't really mind spending the afternoon in his room when he was still uncomfortable from his injuries. Kendall was still blushing slightly when he got to his feet. He knew that his erection was probably visable through his jeans and also he kinda felt like it was his fault that James was having to break his outside time short. If he hadn't shown signs that he found James exercising arousing, the hazel-eyed God might not have flirted quite so openly with him. This place was so confusing. Why the hell shouldn't he and James flirt? Why shouldn't he be able to just kiss him senseless? Oh yeah! Rules! The four of them made their way back inside the club and Byron and the two young men headed upstairs while Kendall went to start checking that the bar was fully stocked with the just arrived Lucas and Alyx.

James trailed behind on his chain, still staring at the floor. He had really fucked it up this afternoon, he didn't get why Byron was being so damn uptight about a little bit of teasing. If he'd seen what Byron had seen just over a week before, flirting would have been the last thing on his mind. He waited while Byron locked his chain back to the bedframe and then flopped down on his back, drawing his knees up towards his chest and covering his face with his hands. Carlos was waiting outside the door, watching his friend's obvious sadness.

"James?" Byron leant over him and gently touched his cheek. "What's the matter?" The boy tried to turn away from the caress. He loved his older friend but at the moment, he just... He sighed deeply.

"I just... I want someone. Someone to love me." A tear slipped down his cheek and dripped onto the pillow beneath his head.

"Oh James! Come here, baby!" Byron pulled him into his arms, even though James tried to push away at first, he quickly relaxed into the embrace, wrapping his arms around Byron and resting his head on his shoulder as he sobbed louder. Byron thought that his heart would shatter completely. What could he say to him? Nothing. Only reasure him that he was loved, very much. Even if it was not the kind of love the boy meant. Byron hugged him tight, feeling the boy's tears seeping through his clothing as he tried to comfort him. James kept repeating the word 'Sorry' over and over again as he continued to cry for a good five minutes longer. Finally he managed to grasp control of himself again, little hiccupping sounds as he fought to stop the tears. He slowly pulled back from Byron's embrace, still full of apologies.

"I took it too far." He said again. "Please tell Kendall that I'm sorry for my behaviour. " He looked down at his hands as he spoke, while Byron tried to assure him that it was all fine. "I. I was just feeling a little down today." He gave a deep sigh. "Chris said he was my friend. He said he loved me." He sniffed hard to fight back the tears threatening to fall again, Byron gently ruffled his hair at the back of his neck. " But he left me. And he didn't even say goodbye. " He glanced up at Byron again. The MC didn't know what to say, how could he tell him what really happened to Chris? The poor boy would probably blame himself, he seemed so confused at the moment. Worse than normal. He kept flicking from happy to sad at the drop of a hat, never seeming to be able to be settled unless he was on stage, even his sleep was eratic now, no peace in oblivion for the teen. Something had to change and change soon.

James finally seemed to calm again and lay back down on his bed, adjusting the position of his chain and allowing himself to slip into fitfull sleep as Byron watched him. Standing from the bed he slipped outside the door to where Carlos was patiently waiting for him. The boy smiled when Byron wrapped his arm around the Latino's shoulder after closing, then locking the door to James' room.

"How ya feeling today, Carlos? Feeling better?" He asked. The boy gave a nod and looped his own arm around the older man's waist as they strolled back to Carlos' room.

"Yeah. The pain's nearly gone now." He paused. "I wanna talk to you about some stuff."

Byron smiled and laughed. "Oooh! Stuff! " He opened the door to Carlos' room and followed the boy in, dragging the chair from the corridor in behind him. "What do you want to talk about?" He smiled indulgently at the boy as he sat down on his bed, pulling his feet up and sitting cross-legged in the middle of the bed. He gave a sigh before starting and nodded towards the shelf.

"Can you get my bear down for me?" Byron grabbed the fluffy toy and tossed it into Carlos's lap, he unzipped the back and started pulling out the money that was stuffed tightly in there. "So. Do I already have a VIP booked for tomorrow?" He asked. Byron thought about it, frowned and then nodded.

"Yeah, you do."

"Who is it? Not Jett again?" His voice was tinged with a little fear.

"No. Not Jett, thank Christ. Umm?" He paused as he thought about it, he'd taken the booking on Monday."Oh, yeah! Mr Silver. " Carlos recognised the name, but couldn't picture him for a moment. "The older guy who comes a couple of times a year. The one who likes you to call him 'Daddy' when he fucks you." Oh yeah! He remembered him! Actually, he was pretty nice as VIP's go. One of the few who just wanted to fuck a youthful body and not inflict pain. Carlos still wasn't feeling one hundred percent after his time with Jett and he was glad that he wouldn't be getting more of the same so quickly.

"What about next week?" He started flattening out the bills so that he could count them.

Byron watched him intently, then shook his head. "No. No one yet. Why?" Carlos looked up from concentrating on his counting.

"And it's a thousand dollars to have me for a couple of hours, yeah?"

"Yes. And again. Why?" Carlos grinned and gathered a pile of bills together before picking up three ten dollar bills from the larger pile on the bed in front of his folded legs. He held the thirty dollars out to Byron.

"Can you get me a new bear this one is getting too full." Byron took the bills and pocketed them before turning back to the boy. He now held out the thick wad of money out to his friend. Byron took it and gave him a confused look.

"What's this for? A bigger bear! How much is here?" He asked. Carlos' cute face broke into a wide grin.

"That. Is a thousand dollars! I want you to give it to Logan. I want Logan to book me as his whore for the night next Thursday. We both know that Jett will probably have me again on Sunday. Logan won't hurt me. I think he really likes me! And I know that I really like him! And the only way I can be with him, is if he is my client. So I am giving him the money to be with me. So that I can be with him" Byron couldn't help but laugh at the suggestion, but there was no real way for him to know whether Logan would agree with Carlos' idea.

"What if he says 'no'?" Carlos shrugged.

"Just ask him for me, please?" Byron agreed, although he was a little worried about what Griffin would say if he found out about it. He really didn't think the man would approve of one of the boy's he considered to be his property getting too friendly with his accountant. But he couldn't deny Carlos even a tiny bit of happiness if it was available to him. And Griffin would get his money, so why should he complain really?

"OK. I'll ask. I'm not promising anything though!" He carefully folded the money together and put it into the inside pocket of his jacket.

"Let me know what he says, yeah?" Byron nodded.

"Of course! I gotta go check on the dancers now. I spent longer with you two than I meant to. Even though we cut our play time short." Carlos gathered the remaining money up and stuffed it into the bear and handed it back to Byron. He put it back up on the shelf and then turned the television on before leaving Carlos to his cartoons and bed.

Logan didn't come to the club until Thursday night, he sat watching Carlos from his usual place on the end of one of the VIP couches. He was allowed to sit and watch from there because he was employed by Griffin, but any closer interactions he had to pay for and though he was saving, he still had a fair way to go before he would have enough for more of what he had a taste of on his birthday. He was surprised when Byron brought a drink to him that he hadn't ordered, he was only halfway through the beer that he had purchased when he arrived. But the beer was only a means to the end. Byron crouched down next to him as he put the drink on the table in front of Logan and leant forward to whisper in his ear.

"I need to speak to you. Alone." Logan was surprised, he really hadn't had an awful lot to do with the MC. Unless you counted the fact that he had sat on a chair in the room with them while he and Carlos had sex the week before. That had been rather disconcerting, but lust and desire had allowed him to shut out the fact that they weren't alone. And he had been more than a little drunk that night too.

He met the tall man outside, round by the back entrance after the club had finally closed for the night. The full moon hung overhead and a gentle breeze blew as he waited for Byron to join him. He was still a little confused as he waited, but he wasn't scared. Just as most people who worked of frequented Twisted Desires did, Logan was hiding secrets too. As he stuck his hands deep into his pockets he felt the rough fabric of the concealed holster straped against his hip through the lining fabric. Oh yeah. He was perfectly capable of defending himself against anyone or anything that should happen here in this dark alley.

He heard footsteps coming towards him as Byron exited the club and the night guard locked the door behind him. Logan stepped out of the shadows to where the light above the doorway shed a little light. Byron smiled as he stepped closer to him. Logan gave him the shy smile that he knew that he would expect from him, and in truth, he was shy. There were two sides to Logan and when it came to his private life, he really was quite a sweet, shy, gay guy.

"What did you want me for?" He asked Byron as he held his hand out to him.

"Question. Proposition for you." That didn't sound too good. Byron grinned. "From Carlos!"

Logan's eyes went wide. "Oh!" was all he could say.

"He wants to know if you would be interested in being his VIP again?" Byron raised an eyebrow as Logan found himself feeling genuinely flustered. Something about that boy just did something to his body and mind. He seemed so cute, but when he turned his sexy on he sent Logan crazy with lust. Unfortunately, Carlos was an expensive addiction and Logan's salary just wouldn't stretch to it. He gave a sigh and smiled back at the MC.

"I'd absolutely love to! Sadly, I can't afford another taste of his delicious little body just yet. I am saving up for it though!" Then he blushed, realising what that would have sounded like to his family and friends who didn't know the kinda circles he was moving in at the moment.

"And here is his proposition." Byron reached into his jacket and pulled out the money and showed it to Logan. " A thousand dollars. What it costs to hire Carlos' 'delicious little body' for one night. Next Thursday night to be exact. " Logan was highly surprised.

"Where did the money come from? You?" He asked.

"Nope!" Byron popped the 'p' loudly. "This is about two month's worth of tips that Carlos collects on stage when he performs. He wants you. Do you want him?" Logan was slightly taken aback.

"Carlos wants to pay for me to have my way with him for the night?" Byron nodded. Logan laughed and shook his head. "He's gonna pay his own wages?"

"Well, not really. He doesn't actually get wages as such. It all goes towards his upkeep." And it doesn't cost that much to keep a small Latino boy in a barely furnished room with a tv, a wash-basin and a toilet. And even with the amount of corndogs and icecream he ate, it still didn't cost no where near the thousands of dollars a week that he brought into Griffin's pockets. But then, as far as he was concerned, Carlos was his property. His to do with as he wanted. And you did not pay your property wages.

"Do you wanna book him then?" Byron asked, tilting his head in question.

"Yeah! Why not! You have no idea how much it kills me to watch him perform and know that I can't get my hands on him! He's so pretty!" Byron grinned as he shoved the money into the accountant's hand, watching as he tucked it safely away.

"Come see me tomorrow when you come to work and we'll do the paperwork." Logan nodded happily. With all the shit that was going on in this place, Carlos was the one thing that made him truly happy. They shook hands before strolling together to the front of the club.

Byron did offer Logan a lift home, but he declined. He walked off in the direction of the address that he claimed was his home on all the paperwork to do with his life and job working for Griffin. He waited until Byron had driven past him, waving out the window as he headed home to be with his lover, then turned and walked in entirely the opposite direction a soft smile on his lips as he thought about Carlos as he walked to the plush appartment block that his real employer had set up for him. He was a little late back tonight after his chat with Byron and the phone was already ringing of the hook as he came through the door, shrugging off his jacket and dashing over to the counter where the phone sat. He snatched the handset out of the cradle.

"Detective Mitchell." He said.

_**Ooooh! I'm so wicked! Please read and review! If you like it, tell me! **_

_**Until next week! Allie XXX**_


	13. Chapter 13

Caged Diamond 13

_**A/N Hello again! First off, sorry for not updating last week, just got stuck for some reason :( Second, really not too sure about this chapter! Hopefully you will enjoy it, please let me know! Thirdly, Thankyou very much for all the reviews and follows and favourites. Until next week.. Allie XXX**_

By the time Logan got off of the phone with his boss he was no longer feeling the joy that he had been on his walk home. Then he was just thinking about his last VIP with Carlos and wondering about what kinda things he would do with the Latino the next week. Now he was reminded about what his real reason for working for Griffin was. Logan had begun work for Griffin nearly a year before. He had originally started training to become an accountant before changing careers and moving to the police force. His youthful looks and knowledge of accounting had made him the perfect person to infiltrate Griffin's inner circle and help to bring the man down. Originally he was being investigated for money laundering and drug dealing, but it had soon become clear that there were other things going on in his club. Young men working there, mysteriously disappeared. They were aware of the VIP rooms, but prostitution was not really that big of a deal if the boy's were willing. The boy's would be the ones in trouble and not really Griffin so much, although he was technically their pimp. He hid the fact that he was in actuality their boss, taking all the money that was paid for the services of the young dancers.

When Logan started work they told him that their was another undercover cop working the club too, but he was never introduced to him, they thought that it would avoid slip-ups if both were oblivious to the other. He had tried hard to work out who his colleague was and had even come to the conclusion that the most obvious person was probably Byron. But then he had finally found out who it was, in the most awful way. He remembered the gasp that his boss had made when he had told him about the horrific scene he had been witness to. Standing at the back of the VIP room, trying not to vomit as the young barkeep was punished for kissing The Diamond. Two young men sharing something so simple and yet, in this place, the worst thing they could have done. His mind seemed to always replay the image in crystal clear slow-motion as the blade had been dragged across his throat. And then he had been told that Chris was his colleague. Older than he looked, the pretty, openly gay and quite camp boy had seemed perfect for his undercover job. He never once let slip that he wasn't who he claimed to be, he just made the fatal mistake of falling for the beautiful brunette with the collar and the chain. Logan still didn't understand how Griffin thought that it was right to kill someone for a kiss. An act of love, or at least lust, and Chris died for it in such a horrible way.

Logan went over to the bar and poured himself a glass of scotch. He didn't drink when he was at the club because, technically, he was working as a cop then and he never drank on the job. A beer or two he could get away with, but he didn't want to ever get drunk and find himself letting things slip that he shouldn't. Like how much he was falling for Carlos. He knew that Griffin didn't give a fuck about Carlos, not like he did James. But he was still pretty sure that the man would object if he knew how much Logan wanted him and wanted to get him away from the hell-hole that Twisted Desires was, down-stairs away from the majority of the paying public.

Logan turned some music on and settled back on the couch, head tilted back and eyes closed as he tried to close his mind off to the horrific thoughts he had been reminded of. Chris had a family, they had been told that he had died in the line of duty but, of course, there was no body to return to them. Chris's remains were non-existant, completely lost in the searing heat of the furnace. Instead, some John Doe had been placed in a sealed coffin and his family had been informed that he was too badly injured for physical identification. So the coffin was sealed to save them from seeing his condition so that they could remember him as he was in life. Logan hoped that they never found out how their son actually died. Naked and in pain, screaming for mercy that never came and release from the pain that only came with the violent end to his life.

Logan only hoped that his own life didn't end like that, by blade or gun at the hands of Griffin or one of his cronies. But this would be his last case, he'd already discussed it with his boss. He couldn't handle all the violence that he had experienced working undercover like this, he may only be young, but he was getting out of this life. As his eyes began to drift shut the empty glass slipped from his fingers and tumbled to the rug at his feet. In the future that he dreamt of he was away from the city, living by the beach, happy. And Carlos was happy and safe too. Lying in the arms of the man who truly loved him. Logan's face flickered into a smile as he dreamt about Carlos. Surprisingly the dream was not sexual, as most of his dreams about the Latino were. In this dream, they walked together, hand in hand on the beach, messed about in the water, danced under the moonlight in each others arms by a blazing bonfire on the sand. But just as he leant in to kiss his sweet lips the image of Griffin's face filled Logan's head. He reached towards the lovers, grabbing hold of Carlos by the back of that damn collar that had just appeared around his throat and ripped the caramel skinned boy from Logan's grasp.

Logan jolted awake with a start and stared around the room in shock, almost expecting the ogre of his life to be standing over him, smirking as he tore his lover from him. But no-one was there. As always, Logan was alone. He sighed deeply. There was no-one waiting for Logan when he got home. No lover to hold, no family at the end of a phone line. He needed to feel love, less isolated, to have a life outside of work. He reached down and picked up the glass, getting up and taking it back over to the counter in the kitchen. For a moment he contemplated a second glass, but he needed a clear head to work out how the hell he was gonna get Carlos out of that damn place. And get Griffin and his goons in the ground where they deserved to be. He took a last glance around his empty apartment and let out a deep sigh before heading to his bedroom. He walked into the darkened room and flicked the lamp into life, stripping out of his shirt and tie before kicking off his shoes and shedding his pants. He slid under the covers and snuggled down, wondering for a moment what it would be like to share a bed with the delicious Latino. Logan wondered if Carlos ever thought about him the way he thought about Carlos. He hoped so.

It would have pleased Logan to know that Carlos did indeed think about him. Surely that should have been obvious to him considering that the Latino had just given him the money to spend time with him the next week? But Logan was insecure when it came to love, and Carlos might just like him because he didn't hurt him.

Carlos's VIP that evening had been Mr Silver, an ex-boxer with the strength to do the slight boy some serious damage. Luckily the closet gay wasn't into causing pain, instead he like Carlos to moan for him and call him 'daddy' while he fucked the boy. He was always incredibly gentle but, sadly for Carlos, he only came to the club a couple of times a year when his wife was out of town visiting her sister on the other side of the country. Carlos was now in bed, a little uncomfortable from having Mr Silver's extremely large cock ramming into his ass for best part of an hour, but in no real pain.

He dreamt of Logan. He dreamt of just being with him, his subconscious filling his head with romantic strolls, visits to the movies and restaurants. Things that he had no knowledge of at all. But in his heart he hoped that one day he would and he really hoped that Logan would be a part of it, cos in his dreams, Logan was all he ever saw.

Logan arrived at the club with Griffin and his assistants just before lunchtime on Friday. He excused himself from his boss and colleagues about twenty minutes later and slid off to find the MC in the office where he was checking over some VIP requests for the weekend. He frowned to himself when he turned over one page to find it was, yet again, a request from Jett for Carlos on Sunday evening. If he'd thought he could get away with it he would have balled the paper up and tossed it in the trash, but it already had both Bitters and Griffin's signatures on it in the comformation space, so he had no choice but to prepare Carlos for any requests he had made. And this time he was asking for Carlos to be naked and bound on his arrival. He'd also asked for a ball-gag and he complained about the amount of screaming that Carlos had done on the previous weekend. In Byron's opinion, there was a simple way to rectify that problem. Don't beat the crap out of the boy with a split bamboo cane across his ass. The thought of Jett abusing the little Latino, yet again, filled Byron with sadness but a rap on the door jerked him out of his sorrow. He turned in his chair and called out to the visitor. When the door opened he was pleased to see the young accountant standing there with a nervous smile on his face.

"Um? Hi, Byron." He raised his hand in greeting.

"Oh! Hi! Logan, yeah?" Logan nodded, " What can I do for you?" Like he didn't know!

"I want to book a VIP session for next Thursday...Please." Byron ruffled through his paperwork and found a blank request form.

"Next Thursday? Any particular boy that you would like?" Couldn't risk anyone hearing anything out of the ordinary.

"Umm? I think I'd like the same one that I had last time. The Latino. Carlos, I think his name was?" He grinned huge at Byron, his heart beating just a little faster at the thought of being with Carlos again. Byron began filling out the form for him, leaving the space for him to write his name and sign to confirm his payment.

"Any special requests?" Byron asked. Logan genuinely thought about it.

"Same as before?"he asked.

"Yes, that should be fine. Except that rule twenty-one will be in place this time, I'm afraid." Logan was disapointed at that, but he smiled and nodded before handing the money to Byron. He didn't bother to count it because he knew how much was there. He pushed the paper across the desk towards Logan and watched as the guy wrote his name and then signed the confirmation. Everything was done now. Carlos would have his night with Logan as he wanted, Byron just hoped that it would not be a disapointment to him. As far as the books went, Logan was just another VIP and nothing said that he had to treat Carlos right. In the back of his mind, Byron was still worried that his previous gentleness was caused by nervousness and not a genuine desire not to hurt the young dancer. Logan thanked the MC and shook his hand before slipping back out of the room and back to Griffin's office.

Byron headed upstairs to the kitchen after finishing dealing with the paperwork. Sean was bustling around the kitchen, preparing the food for the coming evening's customers, the ovens were already on and the delicious smell of cooking meat filled the air. James and Carlos' lunch was ready for Byron to take through to the boys waiting in their separate rooms. But for some reason, today he didn't feel like letting them eat alone. Picking up the first tray, that contained a plate of steak, mushrooms, fries, onion rings and a doughnut with pink frosting on it for dessert, he headed for James' room first.

Opening the door he found the beautiful boy listening to some slow, sweet music as he moved gracefully through Tai Chi exercises. Bare chested, with a bandana around his head, he seemed to stare off into space. Lost to the world around him as he concentrated on finding the inner peace that he desired. Anything to block off thoughts of his lonely existance, his empty heart that just wanted someone, any one to make his life seem worthwhile. Byron waited patiently until the track on the television came to an end and James slowly turned and stretched his long limbs, finally noticing that the door was open and his friend was waiting with his lunch. Perhaps his life wasn't quite as empty as he often felt it was, he just wanted more. What other people had, physical love in his life, to be held and kissed and caressed.

"Hi, Byron."He smiled softly , the MC pulled the little table to the edge of the bed and put the tray down quickly before reaching for the boy and pulling him into a quick embrace.

"How are you feeling today, James? You looked good just then!" He grinned and James returned the smile as he slipped from the older man's arms and settled himself down on the bed to eat his meal.

"Yeah! I'm OK. The normal. " He began to tuck into his meal.

"Good. Won't be a moment." Byron dashed from the room, uncharacteristically leaving the door unlocked behind him and collected Carlos' meal from Sean in the kitchen. Just as he was about to head back the cook called to him.

"Oooh! Nearly forgot! There was mail for the boys this morning!" He waved the familiar envelope at Byron. He blanched slightly, before taking it from the Englishman.

"Thanks." That was fast! He thought as he headed to Carlos' room. Balancing the tray on the chair outside his room, the envelope tucked under his arm, he opened the door to the lively Latino's room. Carlos was just laying on his bed staring at the ceiling, humming along to the music from the radio and moving his feet to the beat. He jumped up the moment the door opened though.

"Lunch-time?" He asked. Byron couldn't supress the smile that his eagerness brought to his lips.

" Hello to you too!" He chuckled as he held the door open, "Come with me!" Carlos was surprised and leapt from the bed, wrapping his arms around Byron in a tight hug.

"Hello, Byron! Sorry!" He squeezed the tall man tightly,"But I'm hungry!" Byron looked down into the childlike face. Fuck! He needed to get these boys out of here.

"Are you ever anything else?" Carlos pushed himself up on tip-toes and kissed his cheek, a twinkle in his chocolate eyes.

"Well sometimes, I get horny!" Byron laughed out loud. "What did Logan say? Did you speak to him yet?" He tilted his head like an eager puppy and waited for his answer. Byron hoped that the boy was going to get what he was expecting.

"Yeah, I did. We filled the paperwork out this morning." Carlos beamed and finally broke his embrace.

"Good! Now where is my lunch!" Byron picked up the tray and then went over to the door of James' room.

"Grab the chair, 'Los and bring it into James' room." Carlos was slightly surprised at the request, but there was no way he was going to miss out on going in James' room. James had a television and that meant cartoons!

Coming into his fellow captive's room he greeted him warmly before placing the chair next to the end of the bed. Sitting down, he pulled his legs beneath him, cross-legged on the seat and set the tray that Byron gave him across his knees and began to eagerly tuck in to his food. He guestured to the screen up on the wall and without him saying a word, Byron got to his feet and changed it to a channel showing classic old 'Tom and Jerry' cartoons. Carlos stayed stock still on his seat, eagerly shovelling fries into his mouth while his eyes were fixed on the screen. Byron watched him for a while, enjoying seeing genuine happiness on the beautiful face. The two boy's sat quiet companionship. It was enough for each to know that the other was there. They were close friends, even though they had never actually physically touched at any time in their residency at Twisted Desires. They both knew it was an odd kinda relationship to have, but they both harboured hopes that one day soon they would be able to interact without pulling themselves away from the most innocent of touches.

The MC reached into the pocket where he had placed the envelope when he sat down on the bed next to James. He was between the two of them as he slit the envelope open with a long finger. The tearing sound attracted their attention and both boy's stopped eating to see what he was doing.

"What's that?" James asked, unlike Carlos, he could read and he saw that the envelope had both his and Carlos's names on the front. Byron gave a smile, knowing that the letters inside would make both boys very happy... Even if they were just a lie. He reached inside and pulled out the two folded pieces of paper from inside. Each piece had the name of the recipient written on it and Byron hoped that neither would recognise it as his own writing. He handed James' letter to him, hoping that the boy would be satisfied with the lies that he had written to hide the truth from him.

"This arrived this morning. The postmark is Frankfurt." James snatched the paper from his grasp.

"It's from Chris!" Byron smiled as he nodded, dying a little inside at the memory of where the boy really was. Poor boy, but at least Griffin hadn't decided to punish James in the same way. Byron didn't think he would ever have recovered from seeing James or Carlos going through the horrific final moments that Chris had.

He unfolded the other piece of paper and slowly read the contents to the Latino. Both boy's were absolutely thrilled with the story he had concocted of Burlesque clubs with handsome young men, good pay and a wonderful city to explore. 'Chris' promised them postcards next time he wrote and in truth, said cards were already in Byron's possession, having arrived early that morning in a letter from Bill's brother. All Byron had to do was write some more lies, post them back to Germany in an envelope and then they would be posted back with a German postmark again. They had decided not to risk sending them from Cologne where Bill was actually from, instead his brother had posted the letters and picked up the cards while visiting Frankfurt. How happy it made Carlos, made Byron feel better about the deception, James though seemed a little down still. Inside the boy was feeling a little guilty at how little he had thought of his friend lately. All he ever thought of now was Kendall. And the feelings he felt for the blonde barkeep were much more intense and sexual than the ones he had ever had for Chris.

After they had finished eating and actually chatting for a while, Byron took Carlos back to his room with the promise that he would let him come watch cartoons with James again soon. Then Byron made his way to the kitchen with the boys trays to give them back to Sean. When he got there though, Griffin was in the kitchen and Byron was not in the mood to talk to him after being reminded of Chris' demise.

"Ah! Byron! Just the man I was coming to see!" His boss' joviality hid his true self to most people, but not Byron. He knew what a sick and depraved person Griffin was, he managed to force a smile though. "I was just telling Sean here that I will be having some friends over for a little get together next Friday afternoon." Byron nodded as his stomach lurched. The last time they had one of these 'get togethers' one of the young dancers had ended up dead after being raped and beaten by three of Griffin's sick friends. While it had been going on, several of the other acts and members of staff had been forced to sit and watch while being groped and kissed themselves. These parties normally ended up with much drunkeness and the boys being drugged to keep them compliant, even waiting on them was not a nice experience. They were expected to submit to being man-handled and to keep their mouths shut about anything that they witnessed. Or else. Byron just nodded, kept his silence and waited for the instructions that were sure to be coming.

"I thought that as we have a new bar man, we should initiate him in the fun of what we do here by letting him watch what happens while he waits on us." Again Byron nodded, rather glad that he hadn't suggested that Kendall be a participant in the 'festivities'.

"And more importantly, I want my 'Caged Diamond' to perform for us! My friends have been asking to get a closer look at him for a while now and I feel that now is the time for that to happen." Now this Byron was not happy about and it showed on his face. If Griffin was getting less protective of James and letting outsiders, even though they were his 'friends', get closer to him it could mean that the boy was losing his appeal. Was Griffin starting to move towards his planned end game for the beautiful brunette?

"What's the matter, Byron? Don't you like the idea of James giving us a private show?" Griffin asked, eyes narrowing. He leant in close and gripped Byron's shoulder tightly. He was perfectly aware that Byron was afraid of what would happen to James. "Remember. He is my property and I can do what the fuck I want to do with him!" He growled in his ear, making Byron shudder. "And that goes for that pretty little kraut that you have back in your bed! Disobey me and I'll be taking him back!" He gave Byron a shove before turning and striding away back to his office downstairs. Sean asked Byron if he was OK. He just frowned and waved him off, deciding that he needed to get the hell out of the building for a while.

But he couldn't leave his boys, not even for an hour. He needed to keep them in his sight, just for a few minutes so he knew they were safe for at least that moment. He glanced out of the kitchen window where the sun was shining on the courtyard garden. He gave a deep sigh and returned back to the locked rooms and took them outside in the afternoon sun. He watched them play with a football while he tried to work out how to get them out. Though he was fast realising that what he really needed to do was get rid of Griffin completely. He looked across at the boys again and gripped James' chain a little tighter. He needed to work this out and quickly, things were beginning to change here again and he didn't like the way it was going. He smiled as Carlos kicked the ball high into the air, imagining what it would be like to watch them running free, without those bloody collars. And this fucking had to happen, and it had to happen soon. God help him.

_**Oh! And I know that I have been spelling 'Rocque' wrong! Won't do it again! LOL** _


	14. Chapter 14

Caged Diamond 14

_**A/N first of all, I am so very sorry for the long delay between chapters. I just haven't been able to get into this for a while as I have been very busy and distracted with life in general. Secondly, thank you all so very much for all the reviews and follows, they make me very happy and I am very thankful for them. I hope that after the long wait that this chapter doesn't disapoint! Luv and hugs Allie XXX**_

In a way, Kendall was not surprised to find himself looking forward to Saturday. He'd been working at Twisted Desires for two weeks now and although he saw James daily, taking him his food, helping him exercise and watching him rehearse, he was still really looking forward to seeing him take to the stage again. He hadn't realised that the performer's changed their acts everytime that they appeared and he was excited to see what the hazel-eyed boy would be doing this week. He may not have been allowed to touch, but every night when he went home and fell into bed his mind was alive with all kinds of naughty thoughts. And still, every night he would fall to sleep after relieving himself of a days worth of James related sexual tension. He'd watched as James had worked on a new routine that week, after finally satisfying himself that the 'Bring me to life' act was ready for it's premiere. Now that he'd managed to workout the last few problems that he had been having with the faster part of the song he was excited for his adoring public to see it. But now he needed to start thinking about something new. Something even more visually stunning than before. He started as he always did, just listening to music that appealed to him and then just letting the music take him where it would until the movements began to fit together and the performance would begin to take shape.

Kendall had finished helping Lucas and Alyx, as usual, and now he was sat on the bar, hands between his knees and eyes fixed on the boy on the stage as he had one last run-through before being locked back in his room. He didn't think he had ever had feelings for anyone like he had for James, never wanted to touch anyone as much as he wanted to touch this boy. He watched as Byron talked to him between the two halves of his act, running his fingers through the soft hair and cupping the flushed cheek in his palm. Speaking to him in hushed tones with gentle touches. Kendall had realised quickly that Byron was the father figure that many of the sad young men who worked here had either never had or had lost. And to Carlos and James, he was the only love that they experienced in their lives. But now Kendall wanted to touch James like that. And more.

Across the other side of town, at Club Rocque, Kelly was busy going over paperwork at the desk in her small office next to Gustavo's much larger one. She glanced up as there was a knock on the doorframe.

"You wanted to see me, Miss Wainwright?" She smiled up at Camille as she waited in the doorway.

"Oooh! Yeah! Come on in, Camille! And shut the door behind you." She didn't want Gustavo to hear this as she knew that he would not approve.

Ever since the meeting with Byron she hadn't been able to get thoughts of James out of her mind. She had framed the pictures that he left her with and the recently taken picture of him in the garden at Twisted Desires now hung on the wall beside her bed. Every night now she kissed the image before she slept, but now that she knew where he actually was, she needed to see him. She'd never stopped thinking of the boy that she had helped to bring up. James' mother did her absolute best for her child and living among so many other women he had had lots of 'aunties' fussing over the beautiful toddler. Kelly had always been one of his favourites, and she'd watched with pride as he grew into a rather pretty boy. When he was taken away from her at twelve it had broken her heart. But now she was going to see him, even if she couldn't actually have physical contact with him. She turned her attention to the pretty young hostess now standing before her.

"You wanted to see me, Miss Wainwright?" She asked, nervously clutching her hands together behind her back.

"Yeah. Sit down, sit down!" Kelly smiled warmly at her, but that only made Camille more nervous! Kelly noticed her expression and gave a little laugh. "It's OK. You aren't in any trouble! Though I do think that I've found out your little secret!" She stopped shuffling the papers on her desk and rested forward on her forearms.

"My secret?" Camille hoped that it wasn't what she thought it was.

"Yes. The reason why you always have Saturday nights off?" She raised an eyebrow as she watched the cogs turning behind the girls eyes. Fuck! It looked like it was THAT secret! "You go to Twisted Desires on a Saturday night, don't you? To see the boy perform? The Diamond?" Camille face flushed red.

"Yes! How do you know about that?" She wondered.

"Ah! Well, that is my secret! But don't worry, you're not in trouble about it."

"But Mr Rocque said he didn't think it was a very nice place, and he didn't want any of 'his girls' going there?" She gave air-quotes as she said the words 'his girls'. Gustavo had always been a secret softy when it came to his staff.

"I'm not going to tell him that you go to see James." Camille was surprised. She knew who James was? "In fact," Kelly continued, " I was wondering if you'd mind if I came with you tonight? If your friends don't mind?" She knew that Camille went out on a Saturday night with a couple of girl-friends, it was only recently though that she had overheard Camille on the phone aranging to go to Twisted Desires. At that time though, she hadn't realised that 'The Diamond' was her beloved Jamie. Now it was different and she just had to see him. Camille was quite surprised at the request but she had no problem whatsoever with her boss tagging along with her and her girls.

"You wanna come tonight?" She asked.

"If you're sure that it's alright with your friends?" She didn't want the girls to think she was intruding on Camille's one night a week off, but she really didn't feel brave enough to go on her own.

"Yeah! It'll be fine! The more the merrier!" Camille laughed. "We meet up for drinks at the bar on the corner of Western Drive at about nine, before we head to the club." Kelly nodded her understanding. Camille was intrigued though, why did Kelly want to go to Twisted Desires? She couldn't help it, she had to ask, even if she wouldn't answer.

"So. Just wondering. If Gustavo doesn't think we should go there, why are you?" Kelly could not give her a true answer, just one that sounded plausable!

"Well. you know how we have been talking about getting some male dancers in?" Camille nodded, but frowned. "Well I want to see what kind of performances he gives, to get some ideas for our dancers. I hear that he is very talented and more in line with the kind of thing that we want. Artistic rather than openly sexual." Camille nodded enthusiastically.

"Oh yeah! He is a wonderful performer! He can be naughty too." She was thinking specifically of the lap-dance he had given her the previous week, but she wouldn't mention that just now! "But he is really worth seeing. I think that you will enjoy it! "

Kelly was amused at the girl's obvious excitement thinking about James. If only she knew what a big event this was really to be for Kelly, but she wouldn't tell. At least not yet!

By the time nine o'clock came round, Kelly found herself seated on a wooden barstool, sipping on a glass of chilled Chardonay as she took time to become aquainted to Camille two friends and fellow James' fanatics Jo and Lucy. On the outside she seemed pretty cool, calm and collected but inside her heart was thundering in her chest as she thought about the coming night. It had been close on five years since she had last seen James in the flesh, he had still been a child then. From the pictures that Byron had given her he had grown into a handsome and extremely well built young man, and from wht the girls had told her he had grown into the hight that his youthful body had shown the early promise of. She was excited to see him, but also sad that she wouldn't be able to talk to him and hold him like she used to. But she hoped that one day soon, that would all change.

The girls sat at their normal table, Kendall noticed that they had company and so he took a chair over to them as they arrived. They introduced him to Kelly, even though they had only met him for the first time theirselves the week before. Kendall was his usual polite self as he took their orders and then made his way back to the bar to get the never noticed the look on Kelly's face as she watched his bare ass as he left them, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. Jo and Lucy laughed out loud at her reaction.

"Yeah. That can be quite a shock the first time you see it." Camille chuckled at her boss. Kelly just shook herself then got back to listening to the three young women fan-girl about James' forthcoming performance.

Alyx had been watching them while serving other customers, he spoke to Kendall while he filled the glasses.

"So who's the older woman?" He asked, nodding in the direction of James' female fan-club.

"What?" He glanced up at the blue-eyed guy.

"The lady with Camille and her friends?" Kendall looked out to where he was looking and smiled.

"Oh! Hasn't she ever been before?" He just assumed that Kelly just didn't come the week before. He didn't realise that it was her first visit. Alyx shook his head and waited.

"Her name's Kelly and she's here to see James." Alyx laughed as he handed the drink he'd just poured to a young man with short-cropped hair, big muscles and skin-tight clothing. The guy grinned up at Kendall as he picked up the tray with the girl's drinks on.

"Aren't we all, cutie! Aren't we all!" He grinned as he turned away and made his way through the crowded club. Alyx chuckled at that.

"Saturday night is James' night. And everyone here wants to fuck him! Even straight women who haven't got a hope in hell!"

But that wasn't completely true. Not everyone wanted to fuck James. Kelly just wanted a chance to hold her Jamie in her arms again, like she had when he was a child.

The moment Byron stepped onto the stage he saw Kelly and was thrown for a brief moment as he wondered what the hell she was doing here. Once the first act took to the stage, some bumping and grinding to some seventy's disco music by the dancers, he took the chance to dash out into the club and over to the girl's table.

"Evening ladies." He smiled politely at Camille, Jo and Lucy but when he turned to face Kelly his face was black as thunder. "And what the hell are you doing here?" He hissed at her. The girls were slightly taken aback at his response. Was he angry that someone from a rival club was here? Kelly was not intimidated by Byron, but she would leave if he asked her too.

"I wanted to see this 'Diamond' that I'd heard so much about. See if he was as good as I've been told." But the way her eyes pleaded with him, he knew the real reason she was here.

"I don't want any trouble." He told her, meaning that she wasn't to call out to him or draw attention to her pressence here.

"He... You won't even know I'm here. Cross my heart." She motioned with her hand. Byron did not miss the little slip of words. He couldn't really blame her for wanting to see him. He wondered what she would think, seeing him after all this time. Wearing that damn collar and chain.

"I'll be keeping an eye on you. Please behave." He knew how much trouble he could get in for allowing her to stay if anything untoward happened. He was glad that Griffin was not actually at the club tonight. "Enjoy the show, ladies. Kelly." He nodded to them each and then made his way back to the backstage area.

After the dancers came the twins, the drag queen who wound the crowd up in preparation for the main event of the evening. They made them wait a little longer though, Carlos took to the stage in just a bright red thong and golden body-paint on his already golden skin. Kelly watched him with great interest as he swirled around and ground his hard toned body against the silver pole. She tried to kid herself that she was just watching him with a professional interest. Byron wanted them to take him into Club Rocque so she needed to get an idea of his ability, but she did find his performance quite .. Stimulating! Even though he was very young and also quite obviously gay. She did notice the young man on the couch before the stage with spiky dark hair watching him intently and the Latino seemed to be returning the flirty looks too. The collar did bother her though and while she was desperate to see James, she wasn't entirely sure how she would take seeing her former charge attired like that.

Byron came on once the stage was empty but for the single pole in the centre of the stage. He stalked towards the front, microphone curling round his cheek, long frock coat hanging off of his tall, slim frame and an elaborate top hat with long peacock feathers raising from the side adding to his already quite substantial height. Kelly felt her stomach tightening in anticipation. The wait was over, after so many long years she was finally going to see her Jamie again. In the flesh and almost close enough to touch. And she hoped that she was gonna be able to control herself from the desire to rush the stage and hold him. She glanced around the table at her three young companions, their eyes all fixed on the stage as they wiggled in their seats, trying to contain the wicked thoughts that filled their minds. Oh yeah. They definitely didn't want to just hold the beautiful youth! Kelly smiled softly as she pushed her chair slightly away from the table, still allowing her a perfect view of the stage but hopefully moving herself more into the shadows. She really didn't want to get her darling boy into trouble with his boss and, she shuddered at the thought, owner. Byron anounced the lock-down and she watched with interest as security moved into place. Kendall took advantage of the girl's need for refreshment and came down to wait just behind their table, waiting with just as much excitement as them. The knife wasn't needed until the second part of James' act tonight so he was able to just watch the first. Camille glanced over her shoulder at him and smiled before turning back and leaning to whisper in Kelly's ear. She nodded her head in the direction of the green-eyed barman.

"I think that James has a thing for Kendall." She whispered, " He was blowing him kisses last week!" Kelly raised an eyebrow, but also smiled warmly. She turned to look at the blond too, pleased to think that James at least had someone to flirt with. As she looked him up and down, finding him extremely cute, the music suddenly blared and the hole in the ceiling gaped open. Camille touched her arm, bringing her attention back to the stage, then she shook her head her head and directed Kelly's gaze to the slowly decending cage. Kelly's breath caught in her throat as he came into view. Black leather pants tight on muscular thighs and a tight little ass. Lower. Skin-tight black T with massive biceps straining as he clutched the bars of the cage, chain hanging down the front of his body. Lower. Thick, heavy leather and steel collar locked firmly around his throat, head tilted down, watching his audience as the cage finished it's decent. As it began to slide towards the stage he finally lifted his head and began to look around him as he began to move his body to the loud music.

Kelly was frozen to her seat. Seeing the soft, somewhat feminine features and stunning hazel eyes now on this young adult rather than the child he had been last time she had held him. He had attained all the glory his body had promised as a child. He was stunningly beautiful, a muscular young God. He scanned the crowd, looking for Kendall but instead he saw her sitting there with his 'girly fan-club' as Carlos called them. Kelly. His substitute mom, watching him with tears in her eyes. Looking down at himself he felt a brief flash of pain in his heart. He didn't want her to see him here, performing suggestive movements for the baying crowd. He wanted her to feel proud of him, not disgusted of the way he was forced to live. He took a deep breath and turned away, torn between wanting to run to her or to run away and hide himself.

Kelly did not feel any disgust or shame in him for the way he looked. He was beautiful and she couldn't keep her eyes off of him. The cage arrived at the edge of the stage and Byron stepped up and unlocked the door. He unclipped James' leash and the boy stepped down onto the stage. He waited in silence, head down again and barely moving as the door was closed and the cage sent back to it's place in the ceiling. Byron stepped to the side of the stage as music started and the acompanying dancers slid into place as James began to move to the pounding beat blasting through the speakers. He crossed his legs then spun slowly round, head lifting as he face his audience and Byron prepared to sing. Whoever was watching there was no chance for him to change his act tonight now. He hoped that Kelly would enjoy watching him. He glanced briefly in her direction one more time before throwing back his head and rolling his hips.

Showtime...

_**Another chapter over! Please read and review and I will try really hard to get chapter 15 up for next week!** _


	15. Chapter 15

Caged Diamond Chapter 15

_**A/N Well, here finally, is a new chapter. Please accept my apologies for how long this has take. Writer's block is a complete bastard! I have started a new Tumblr where I am re-posting this story, but including pictures and also the music tracks used by the boys. So if you are wondering what Byron looks like I will be revealing that soon! Though I think that might become obvious from his song choice in this chapter! **_ **_Allie XXX_**

_Showtime..._

Byron flashed one quick glance in James direction before raising the microphone to his scarlet, painted lips. In a way he wanted Kelly to see the boy like this, see just what an asset he would be to Club Rocque, but he was also worried whether she would cause a scene and get him in trouble. He really wanted her on his side though, perhaps he did need a little direct help in getting the boys out and not just a place for them to go afterwards? No time to think about that now, time to sing!

_So hot_

_Out the box_

_Can we pick up the pace?_

Out of the corner of his eye he watched as James led the dancers in a flurry of rhythymic bumping and grinding before scurrying up his pole to begin twisting and writhing against the cool steel, muscles flexing as he moved smoothly with the music.

_Turn it up_

_Heat it up_

_I need to be entertained_

_Push the limit_

_Are you with it?_

_Baby, don't be afraid_

_I'ma hurt ya real good, baby_

James' rabid fans crowded the dancefloor in front of the stage, howling their appreciation for the black clad god performing for them. Kelly could not tear her eyes away from him, he was quite simply stunning. His lithe body rolled and thrusted smoothly in time with the music, but behind all the openly erotic movements was grace, rythym and great artistic ability. And even though she was not so keen on the eroticism she was truly proud of his dancing and skills with the pole.

James concentrated on his performance and tried hard not to pay too much attention to the woman watching him intently. What was she thinking, seeing him perform like this? Why the hell was she here? Was it just a coincidence that she should turn up here at the club on the one night of the week that he performed? He glanced around the crowd quickly as he moved to the music and Byron's wonderful voice. Sad that he couldn't look at Kendall this week as Kelly was seated right in front of him, he instead decided to focus his gaze on the guy on the VIP couch with the almost black spikey hair.

James shot a cheeky grin at his audience, blowing a kiss in Logan's direction before quickly scurrying back to the top of his pole. The dancers twirled round and highlighted his accent before they all left the stage to just James and Byron. Twisting round to face forwards again James began to grind his body against the cold steel as Byron stepped to the base of his pole and dropped down holding onto the metal and glancing up at the boy above him as he continued to sing.

_So hold on until it's over!_

James spread his long legs wide and began to roll his hips against the pole, eyes closing, mouth open and head back.

_Oh, do you know what you got into?_

_can you handle what I'm about to do?_

_'Cause it's about to get rough for you_

_I'm here for your entertainment_

James knew that he was good at what he did, his lessons had began at an early age a long while before he had come to this hell-hole. As a child, he had spent a lot of time hanging around with the dancers at Club Rocque and had quickly become interested in the way the ladies worked the pole. At his young age, he had seen nothing sexual about the movements of his mother and her collegues and had soon began to pester them to allow him to try it for himself. His mother had not been keen, but Kelly and her friend at the time, Stacy, had soon been persuaded to help James with his first tentative moves on the golden poles. By the time he was ten he was extremely good at what he did. Climbing and swirling round the cool metal bar with grace and strength and none of the sexual moves that he would later learn in his career as Griffin's star performer.

As the song came to an end, James lay back on the stage, Byron kneeling over him, his legs trapped between his friend's knees. Grinning across at the audience Byron held the microphone down in front of his groin and rolled his hips, skimming it suggestively over the teen's zipper. James stared up at him with wide, trusting eyes. Byron straightened up a little and laughed out loud at the howls from the crowd.

"Oh my!" He dead-panned, turning to face them. "Sorry about that people! But sometimes we get a little carried away!" He leant back over James and whispered in his ear. "Freedom of expression, baby boy!" James chuckled and reached up to grip his friend's neck and hold him in place for a second so he could whisper back.

"Third act."

"Yeah?"

"I wanna do _Rule the World."_ He told him. They had the music, that would not be a problem.

"Griffin said no." Byron reminded him.

"Don't care. I'm doing it." The performance had been discarded by Griffin because it was not sexual enough. Beautiful, artistic and balletic it showed off James body and ability to the very best, but that was not what Twisted Desires was about and Griffin had decreed that it was not suitable. But Griffin was not at the club tonight.

"And what are you going to wear?" James only had what he was wearing and the skimpy outfit that he should have changed into for his third act. He gave a shrug as Byron continued to hover over him to the pleasure of the watching fans.

"Tell the lighting guy that I need his jeans."

Byron finally straightened up, chuckling to himself as he did. He glanced down to the bar where Kendall had returned to a few minutes before. He held his hand in the air and bellowed to the blonde.

"Bring me the blade!"

Kendall scurried towards the stage with the jewelled dagger in his hands again. He bowed his head and presented the viscious looking weapon to the MC. As he stepped back slightly a hand conected to the left cheek of his ass and he jumped as he held in the gasp that threatened to escape his lips. He glanced to his side and saw that it was the fit guy from earlier in the evening, he managed a shy smile even though he was not that keen on being groped by the punters. He turned back to watch Byron and James interacting on the stage.

James tilted his head back, eyes fluttering shut as his breathing returned to normal after the exertion of his performance. He took a few deep breaths then flicked his eyes back open and focussed his hazel eyes on Byron's ice-blue ones. No great theatrics this week, he guided the point of the blade down and rested it briefly on the flesh just below James' heavy collar. He wondered what kelly was thinking as she watched the man that she had only known as a child lay prone on the stage with another man balanced suggestively over his muscular body. Did it disgust her? Would she feel compelled to make a scene? God! He hoped not! He really didn't want Griffin to find out that she had been here, who she was.

He slipped the point of the blade under the neckline of his tight black t-shirt and began to slit the front clean open. James watched as the steel decended , eyes hooded as he allowed his mind to briefly wander. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Kendall watching intently as the garment was removed from the muscular body. James loved the blond's green eyes and the way they flashed with desire when he looked at him. So many thoughts rushing through his head tonight! Fuck! How he wanted to get down and dirty with Kendall! How he'd like the youth to be leaning over him like this instead of Byron.

Once the fabric was slashed loose, James arched up and let Byron rip it away. Straightening up he swirled it around his head while the crowd bayed for more before launching it out across their heads. He chuckled as they scrabbled for the prize before getting back to his feet, towering over James prone form.

"So who's ready for a little more bumping and grinding from our star performer?" He hollered as he passed the dagger back to Kendall before offering a helping hand to James. Kendall flashed him a smile as he prepared to leave the stage area.

"Me!" He whispered softly as James came back to his feet and turned to his adoring fans again. James moved back to take hold of the pole again as Byron slid into the wings to watch him perform. James' eyes followed Kendall as he made his way back through the punters. enjoying the way his bare ass wiggle as he retreated to the bar. Oh yeah, Kendall. He'd really like to bump and grind just for his benefit! He glanced across at Kelly one last time before the music began, wondering still what she thought of his act. He hoped that she appreciated his performance but he knew that she would enjoy the last part far more than the first two. But this was the difficult bit, he had fallen multiple times in rehearsal and he was still a little worried that he would do it again tonight. But there was no going back now.

He stretched his arms up the cool steel, gripping the metal tightly and dropping his head forward. He briefly closed his eyes as he took a deep breath and waited for his music to begin, bare flesh glistening under the single spotlight. The piano began and he began to move smoothly to the music, twirling and stretching as those hazel eyes smouldered as he looked out at the crowd. The drums kicked in and his movement became faster, climbing the pole effortlessly, turning his lean body in all directions, thrusting and rolling his hips against the metal. The music became faster and faster, the drums filling the air as he somehow kept up without a single slip. Kelly's gaze was locked on him. He was so damn good! She'd never seen anyone work the pole like this, no matter who he was, he would be a great asset for Club Rocque. Who he was just made it perfect, but she didn't miss the way his head lifted and he stared straight at her as the male vocalist on the track growled out the lyrics.

_Don't let me die here_

Her heart froze. She knew what was rumoured to happen here, boys disappeared all the time from this place. But not him. Not her Jamie. She had to get him out, get him home.

The final part of the performance he finished upside down, legs straddling the pole, arms locked round the pole. He released the grip of his biceps and decended rapidly towards the stage causing gasps of concern. Barely inches from the wooden stage he tightened his grip again and stopped abruptly, arching back and landing on his feet as the last notes of the song melted away. He came to the edge of the stage, chuckling to himself as his audience applauded and shouted their normal obcene suggestions. He glanced down to where Kendall was, the barkeep's eyes met his even over the long distance of the empty dancefloor and James felt his heart give a little skip. Performing was always fun but tonight felt better than normal. Raising his hand to his lips he blew a kiss out across the crowd, hoping that the blond understood that it was meant only for him. And Kendall certainly wasn't oblivious to the flirty looks that James was sending his way, but in the darkness of the club the Diamond was not aware of the blush that flushed over Kendall's cheeks. James gave a deep bow before dashing off-stage to change for his last act.

The lighting guy was waiting in the wings with Byron, jeans in hand and wearing a pair of bright pink boxers. James mumbled his thanks as he quickly shimmied out of his own pants before sliding into the soft denim. He dashed over to the mirror backstage and grabbed some body glitter and lightly ran the brush over his pecs and six-pack. He ran his fingers through his hair and asked Byron how he looked.

"Ravishing!" Was the MC's one-word answer.

"Wish me luck!" He stepped to the edge of the curtain as the sound guy prepared to switch the backing music for that of his chosen track. The one Griffin said was not sexual enough for the stage. Byron knew that James did not need luck, even without all the sex and eroticsism that the punters were expecting, no one could fail to be entranced by the performance the youth was about to give. He knew just how stunningly good it was gonna be. And he was sure that the person that James was hoping to impress the most would love it.

The stage went dark and James moved silently to stand centre-stage as he waited for the first note of the music to begin. As the vocals broke the silence a single spotlight pieced the darkness revealing the beautiful youth in all his glory, the collar the only thing that spoiled the image. When James had lived at Club Rocque, a couple of the dancers had had extensive training in ballet and had become used to the tiny boy joining them during their warm-ups and rehearsals. Watching the five year old trying to copy pirouettes and intricate footwork had amused and charmed them. But then he began to get good at it, very good. he had even gone to a couple of classes with the daughter of one of the other dancers, but he still prefered learning from the ladies that shared his home.

As he continue to move effortlessly to the music, Byron was suprised that the normally rowdy crowd fell almost silent and not with disapproval either. They were quite obviously entranced with the graceful balletic performance. The three ladies of the James 'fanclub' were all watching with open mouths. Kelly had tears running down her cheeks, hands over her mouth and a look of motherly pride on her face. Though he was glad that Griffin was not here, he knew that the man would be as shocked as him that the audience were actually enjoying it. James lept to the pole and swung himself around, head dropped back and eyes closed, trying desperately to keep back tears that were threatening to fall. Why did he feel so emotional to see her here? He felt ashamed that she should see him working in a seedy place like this. He had long since given up the hope that she and Gustavo would come and take him away from this place. His younger self had expected it when he was first here, for them to ride in with a stack of money and buy him away from Griffin. But they had never come and over time he had given up. He never realised that they didn't know where he was, how close to them he was. Until now. And now Kelly had not been able to keep away, she had to see him. But she wasn't sure if this was worse than not knowing where he was. He was here. Right in front of her, but she could not go to him. Hold him in her arms like she had dreamt all these long years since she had last seen him. However, James was about to bring that dream to life.

He couldn't stand it either. Seeing her there in front of him, so close and yet so far away. He glanced across at her then turned his head quickly as he twirled, looking to see how close Byron was and where the bodyguards were. He was sure that he was agile enough to avoid them! As the music broke down into the middle instrumental he made his move, backflipping off of the stage over the head of the closest bodyguard and landing on the dance floor just behind a group of fans who gasped, but moved away, well aware that they were not allowed to touch. Byron barely had time to grasp what was happening before James span round quickly, gaining his bearings of where exactly he was and then where she was, seated in the shadows. He saw both Byron and the huge bodyguard, Freight-train he thought they called him, begin to head in his direction so he sprinted across the space between himself and the girls. He didn't know how long he would have or what he would say if he made it to her before he was flung back into his cage again. So he did the one thing he had missed so much in the last seven years since he had seen her.

Kelly could not hide her shock or her extreme happiness when she realised that that her boy was heading straight for her. An excited squeal slipped from her lips as she jumped to her feet,reaching for him as he reached for her. She swallowed a sob and closed her eyes as finally, finally she felt him slip into her waiting embrace, closing his own arms around her tightly. His damp cheek slid against hers as he snuggled close. Everything around them seemed to freeze. She knew she heard him speak her name softly between quiet sobs, but all she could do was hold him tighter as she nuzzled against his soft hair, telling him it would all be alright soon, calling him 'her Jamie'. She knew it was possibly a lie. She didn't know it would all be alright, whether they would get him out. But now that she had seen him, held him, she knew that anything she could possibly do, she would.

Freight-train arrived behind James, even he hesitated in touching 'The Diamond' but Byron arrived at his side, his eyes showing compassion and not the fury that James had expected. He knew that he had broken the rules and that when Griffin heard about it he would not be happy. But! It was worth it! He willingly pulled away from her arms, flashing her a killer smile, removing himself from Byron's touch before he had a chance to pull him away. He ran back towards the stage, the crowd parting before him, and clambered back up onto the stage. He leapt back for the pole just as the vocals resumed, a massive grin gracing his tear stained face as he completed the act as his cage began to move across the ceiling again. But he didn't really care. He had not only seen Kelly again, really seen her, not imagined her as he had before, but he had held her in his arms and she had hugged him back.

Down on the dancefloor, Byron gave a deep breath as he looked at Kelly. What could he say? She had not done anything wrong, it had been all James. Freight-train looked confused at what had just happened, but Byron just shook his head and made his way back to the stage too. Unlike James, he couldn't climb back up by himself so the huge man gave him a little help. Byron briefly brushed himself down as he stood on the corner of the stage, turning to watch as the crowd erupted into tremendose cheers as James took his bow. The cage decended before him and he pulled the door open and stepped in himself waiting for the MC to pull himself together and come chain him back up. But nothing would worry him tonight, he grinned at Byron as he locked the chain back in place. He whispered a soft 'Sorry', but in all reality, he didn't look that sorry.

"Wait till you're in your room." Byron growled. He tried to look contrite, but failed miserably, his lips still twitching up into a soft smile.

As the cage made it's way back up to the ceiling he gripped the bars and waved out at the watching audience. He looked round for Kelly who was still on her feet staring up at him adoringly. James mouthed the words 'I love you' before noticing that Byron still frowned at him so he turned round and looked out for Kendall. He didn't know why, but with the elation he felt inside him, he really wanted to see the blond boy one more time before he went back to his room. Catching sight of him, leaning over the bar with Alyx and Lucas, his heart seemed to beat even faster. He blew a kiss in Kendall's direction, hoping that he got that it was meant only for him. Finally the cage disappeared through the ceiling and the flaps closed behind it. James sank to the floor of the cage to wait for Byron.

Yeah, he knew that he was gonna get such a telling off when they got back to his room, but he really didn't care. He rested his forehead against the cold bars and closed his eyes again, sighing softly as he thought over what had happened down in the club. Kelly had been here. He'd seen her and she had definitely recognised him. She'd watched him perform and then he had held her and she had hugged him back and called him Jamie. He'd missed her so very much. But as his smile began to fade, his heart felt cold again. But he was still here, chained, unable to leave. He needed to be with her. Away from this place, and soon. His eyes flicked open as he heard footsteps approaching down the empty corridor. Byron pulled his hat from his heard and leant in to unlock the door. He swang it wide and reached down to ruffle James' hair, all the annoyanced gone from his voice.

"Oh my poor,poor boy!" He whispered, "You were magnificent tonight!" James leant into his touch, a smile twitching on his lips as a tear formed in the corner of his eye. She was gone. He was alone again. Byron gave a long,deep sigh.

Fuck! He needed to get these boys out.


	16. Chapter 16

Caged Diamond chapter 16

_**Hello again! So sorry that this is taking sooo long. Really having problems getting this down on the page! This chapter mainly deals with Carlos and Jett in the VIP room, and it is not very nice at all. :( That you for all the reviews and follows and please let me know what you think of this chapter! Luv and Blessings Allie )O(**_

Logan sat in his armchair, twisting the glass that he held in his fingers, studying the russet coloured liquid inside as it clung to the cold glass. He'd left the club early tonight so that he could phone into the police head-quarters. He'd just got off the phone to his boss again and know he was trying to make sense of what had happened at the club earlier this evening. He was perfectly aware of who Kelly Wainwright was, and what she did for a living, but Club Rocque was a respectable establishment. If he had been surprised to find her in the crowd tonight, he was even more shocked at what had happened with the boy that they called The Diamond. In all the time since the investigation had started he had never left the stage and only once had interacted with a patron, that young woman he had lap-danced the week before. But the way that he had headed straight for the African-American woman and hugged her like that was perplexing. He clearly knew her, and from her response, she knew him. But how? Hadn't Griffin told him that the boy had not left the building since the day he arrived? Even his pierced nipple had been done by a guy who had been brought in just to do that job. A guy who had disappeared off the face of the earth only day's later. Unfortunately, Logan had a pretty good idea where he was now, or at least where he had gone. He was pretty sure that there were soon no identifiable remains after bodies had been disposed of in the furnace.

But he was really confused as to what the connection was between James and Kelly. He had looked into James' background in Griffin's computer files. All he had found though was records of when he had been 'Purchased'. The idea of Griffin purchasing boys made him feel quite sick. There had been pictures that had been taken at the time of purchase of a very attractive, but slightly podgy boy, then taken at intervals of three months as he gradually turned into the tall, athletic teen that he was now. Logan had been able to get into all kinds of files while working in Griffin's office, there was no mention of any link between James and Club Rocque at all. But Logan had an idea that there might be some answers to where James come from there. His chief at the LAPD had suggested that he go undercover, yet another new persona, and go ask some questions of Miss Wainwright and perhaps, Gustavo Rocque.

Byron took James back to his room and fastened his chain back to the bedstead before leaving him alone while the stageshow downstairs carried on. He didn't turn the television on, instead he lay back on the bed, yet again replaying the incident from earlier over and over again. He still half thought that it was little more than a dream. His mind twisted everything, quickly turning it to ashes in his heart. Why did she come here? Why didn't she come before? Did she come just to taunt him? Remind him of what he had once had, and held dear? But most prominantly in his mind. Why did she leave him here? He blinked as he stared up at the lights above him, willing the coming tears to leave him be. He didn't want to cry again. He wasn't a child, but as he turned onto his side he pulled one of his pillows into a tight embrace and curled up, crying softly into the fabric. Laying there in his borrowed jeans and heavy collar, he had never felt so abandoned and alone in his whole time here at Twisted Desires.

Carlos did not perform onstage this night, instead he had been released down onto the VIP couches to sit with the customers. He sat between two resonably young men who, thankfully, only seemed interested in what was basically making out. Except that they were paying for the privilige of Carlos kissing and touching them. No exposure was allowed on the couches, but that did not stop Carlos from palming them through their pants, making them both hot and bothered. The taller of the two returned the favour, nibbling down on Carlos' nipple while he squeezed and manipulated the Latino's hardening cock through the thin fabric of his shorts. His body was reacting purely to the physical stimulation, he had no real attraction to either of them. But he did appreciate that they were not being unduly rough towards him. He closed his eyes and moaned for the benefit of the two patrons as they nibbled on either side of his neck. His mind was off wandering now, no longer fully conscious of his surroundings, as usual he was imagining that he was not with clients. Well, at least not the ones he didn't really want.

In his mind he was stretched out on a couch, not here at the club, but a couch in a real appartment. He had no collar and the room actually had windows with the sun streaming through, almost blinding him until a shadow leaning over him blocked the sun-light. Carlos breathed deep and shuddered as one of the VIP's wrapped there arms around him and began to suckle and nip at the golden skinned boy's nipple again. But in Carlos' mind, the person pushing against him and moaning his name was not this nobody, it was Logan the accountant. The guy that he had actually given money to so that he could pay to use Carlos himself.

Kelly sat watching the rest of the evenings entertainment, but she was finding it hard to concentrate. It was clear that everyone at the club was now talking about her, patrons and staff alike kept staring in her direction. Camille asked her if she was alright as she still had tears sparkling in her eyes as she tried hard to remember what James' embrace had felt like. Every tiny detail. Camille was desperate to understand what had happened and why. It was quite clear to her that Kelly actually knew the Diamond, but she decided not to pry. At least not while they were still at the club. Perhaps tomorrow?

After the performances had finished and the DJ had taken over again Byron escorted a couple of the dancers down to the VIP room in the basement and made sure that all was going well with the boys on the couches, including Carlos. He was being excused duties in the basement tonight as Sunday was always his busy night. Byron sighed to himself as he headed back up the stairs. Of course, as usual, Carlos' Sunday night client would be the letcherous and sick minded Jett. Byron did not know who he exactly was or how he made a living, but he certainly always had enough to pay for his weekly trips to sodomise the sweet Latino boy.

He came to the door of James' room and tapped gently and called out to him softly. There was no answer but he unlocked the heavy door, glancing in to see how the boy was now. He was sleeping. Curled on his side, facing the wall, the obvious marks of dried tears on his cheeks. For a moment he considered leaving him to sleep, but he thought that he should at least get him into his nightclothes, even if he didn't want to eat. He gently settled himself on the edge of the boy's bed and reached over to run his hand over his bare shoulder before giving him a little shake to bring him round from his slumber. Unlike Carlos, this act did not frighten him, there was no way that it would lead to the kind of thing that the Latino often experienced. But it did take him away from a wonderful dream that he had been deep in. He saw himself, but as he was now, running on the beach with Kelly as he had when he was a child. His mom was there too and so was Kendall and Carlos, he had felt so happy and relaxed that the sudden pull back to reality confused him for a moment. Coming to, curled on his bed with the ever-present feel of his collar pressing against his throat and the cold chain draping over his bare shoulder was no comparison to where his mind had taken him only moments before.

Yawning wide he rolled onto his back, smiling slightly as he realised who had woken him. His smile faded quickly though as he realised that Byron may not be too happy about what he had done out in the club, but he hoped that he would be understanding about his infraction. He looked up at the MC, wondering what was coming. Byron smiled kindly and bent down to place a gentle kiss on his head.

"How are you, dear-heart?" He whispered softly. James pushed himself up and snuggled against the older man's shoulder, taking a moment to think over his answer. He gave a deep sigh. It felt like little more than a dream and he didn't expect to have the chance to ever hold her again like that. He supposed that he should just forget about it and get on with his life and job. He lifted his long lashes and gazed up at Byron with his gorgeous hazel eyes.

"I'm fine." He little more than whispered. Byron didn't believe him one little bit, but just wrapped his arms around the boy's broad shoulders for a while.

"Are you sure?" James just nodded.

"Well, shall I get you something to eat?" James never ate much before he performed.

"Mmm. Yeah." He lifted his head up from where it rested on Byron's shoulder.A wide grin spread across his face, "Pizza?" He asked. Byron chuckled.

"Yeah! You can have pizza! And the lighting guy would like his jeans back, please!"

James shuffled out of Byron's embrace and got to his feet and began to shimmy out of his borrowed clothing. He tossed the jeans at Byron as he sat on the bed, he draped them over his arm and got to his feet as James climbed back onto his bed wearing nothing but a very small pair of black briefs. He settled back and grabbed the remote and turned his tv on. He was still thinking about Kelly, but he knew that he had to put it to the back of his mind, at least for now. He smiled up at the MC briefly before turning his attention to the screen. Byron watched him for a while before heading out to the kitchen to see about James' pizza.

Sunday always came round far too quickly for Carlos' liking. Although he enjoyed performing he knew that tonight would bring it's usual weekly encounter with his most hated VIP, Jett. Everything else seemed to go by in a flash until, finally, he was taken down to the room in the basement to be prepared for his client's arrival. This week Jett had asked for him to be 'ready for action' when he arrived.

Byron led him in and closed the door behind them, barely looking at the young Latino as he began to shed his clothing. Carlos had already taken his pill earlier in the evening that dulled his senses and allowed him to face the coming ordeal without too much fear, but that didn't mean that it wouldn't hurt. He would end the night crying in pain, as always, the pills did not dull the physical. Once he was naked Byron directed him to a long,low table and he climbed onto it on his hands and knees and waited while he was strapped in at his ankles and calves. The MC came round to the front and pulled the boy up into his arms and gave him a hug, Carlos rested his head on Byron's shoulder, he could hear the boy's breathing, slow and deep and feel a slight tremor in his body even with the drug in his veins. After a moment Carlos gave a heavy sigh before pulling himself from Byron's embrace before settling himself down to have his wrists locked into place. There was one last humilation in store for the Latino though. Byron made his way over to the racks full of all kinds of torture instruments and selected the item that Jett had requested before bringing it back to fit it to the waiting boy.

Carlos looked up at the object dangling from Byron's fingers and gulped, closing his eyes and briefly turning his head away. Byron quietly apologised, even though it was not his choice, he just felt so awful to be the one fitting the device onto the Latino. The only 'good' thing about itwas that he would not tighten the strap to the point of pain. Carlos would not be able to wriggle out of it and he knew by now that struggling would do him no good, it was better to comply and take what was coming and hopefully the client would not be too rought with him. But then again, this was Jett they were talking about and Jett seemed to always go for the pain.

The object was a gag, but not the normal ball type. It consisted of a hoop bound in leather with straps that fixed it round his head. Carlos did not want it, but he obediantly opened his mouth wide for Byron to fit it into his mouth behind his teeth. Byron was perfectly aware of the trembling in the boy's body as he carefully fastened the buckle around his head. He stepped back eyes fixed on Carlos and mind wandering to think about the possibility of getting his boys free again. He had to get them out, but now, he had to go get Jett and bring him down to his plaything for the night.

Carlos waited alone, trying to calm himself and block his mind from thoughts of what was about to happen. He hoped that the gag meant that he would be spared the beating on his body that was usual from Jett. The second that the cruel VIP walked into the room it was obvious that he was not going to be spared a beating. Jett walked straight over to the wall and chose a four foot bamboo cane from a rack, pausing to test it by swishing it through the air. An evil grin spread over his face as Byron blanched before sitting himself down on the chair by the wall. He came over to Carlos' side and grabbed a fistful of the Latino's short, black hair, forcing his head back and meeting his terrified eyes.

"And how are you this week, my dirty, filthy little whore?" He reached down to run his fingers over the boy's ass. This close up, the faint scars of previous abuse was visable on the golden skin. It wasn't too bad, but Jett was always willing to try to make it worse. He rested the cane against Carlos' bare flesh and let it roll back and forth for a while.

"Like that, Carlos? Does it feel nice?"

Carlos nodded obediently, but in reality all the act did was make him terrified of what was coming. There was no way that Jett would just tease him with something that had such promise to cause pain. When the first strike came the Latino's body jolted against his restraints, but he was unable to scream out through the pain because of the gag. Jett followed the strike up with several more in quick succession, causing red welts to raise on the golden flesh, but it was not enough for him. He trailed the cane behind him on the concrete floor as he came closer to Carlos' shoulder and grabbed the back of his hair and pulled his head back to look down on his face. His beautiful chocolate eyes were prickling with tears and wide as he tried to fight away the pain in his ass, Jett grinned at his discomfort.

"You think that hurt? I've barely started yet!" He growled, a sickening grin on his face. He stepped in front of Carlos, swishing the cane through the air in front of him, the thrum as it whipped past his face made the boy tremble and close his eyes, as if not watching would protect him. Byron sat on his chair, tense and terrified. His fingers twitched unconsciously, eager to wrap round Jett's throat and choke the life out of the evil bastard. But all he could do was watch as with a final, violent swing of the cane Jett smashed it hard against the cold floor, splintering a large section of the cane.

He stopped what he was doing and lifted the cane up infront of his own face to examine the condition of the weapon now. A feral grin on his handsome features as he chuckled to himself.

"Ah! Perfect! " He whispered.

Byron felt his breath freeze in his lungs as Jett moved back down to stand deside Carlos' shapely ass again. He knew that in this state, the simple cane had been turned into something much more damaging and painful. Every splinter of bamboo would now be like a razor blade and Carlos' bare flesh would have no defence against it.

"Are you ready, little whore?" He cooed, leaning over and running his tongue down the boy's spine and between the cheeks of his ass. He made a soft whine, unable to make any discernable response due to the gag.

"What was that, Carlos? Did you say you were ready?" The boy was quite clearly terrified, he tried desperately to pull free of his bonds, shaking his head and whimpering around the gag. Jett grinned at his discomfort.

"Ah well! I'll just have to take that as a yes then." He stepped back and flashed a grin at Byron before bringing back the arm holding the cane.

"And one!" He shouted, triumphantly, bringing the frayed bamboo down on the bared flesh as hard as he could. Even through the gag, there was no mistaking Carlos' scream of pure agony that gurgled out of his restrained lips as the razor-sharp strips of bamboo slashed open his skin. Jett pulled his arm back again, but waited for a while for the blood to begin to pool on the surface, only when the first scarlet trickle slipped down the cheek of the boy's ass did he bring the weapon down again. Byron flinched, eyes closing and a cry of mental anguish escaping from him, even as he fought to stay silent. He did not want to give the bastard the satisfaction of knowing how much his beating was hurting the man that he had not even touched. But he couldn't. As a second strangled scream pierced the air he felt tears beginning to slip down his cheeks. Poor, poor Carlos!

Jett moved around a little, moving closer and inspecting the cuts on the latino's behind. He ran his fingers over them, smearing the blood over the flesh.

"Very good." He remarked. Carlos bowed his head and prayed that two strokes would satisfy his bloodlust. But God wasn't listening. "Nowhere near enough though." Jett declared and moved back and prepared the next stroke. "And three!" he bellowed loudly, thrashing the cane down again.

By the time he had finished beating Carlos with the cane, five whole strokes later, the blood was freely flowing, running down the boy's thighs and pooling on the table around his knees. Byron had lost his battle to control his emotions and was opening sobbing from his chair by the wall which pleased Jett no end. He hated the MC and knew that the feeling was reciprecated. And he didn't give a fuck what he thought of him. He examined the frayed end of the bamboo, grinning at how dark it was stained with the boy's blood. He finally threw the weapon aside and walked over to the table in the corner, picking up a bottle of Scotch. He leant back against the table and opened the bottle, pouring a large amount of the firey spirit down his parched throat. His shirt was stuck to his body with the sweat from his exertion of beating the boy and there was an obvious bulge in his blue jeans as he watched the trembling boy. He was planning his next move.

He looked the bottle in his hand for a moment, toying with an idea that he hoped would bring extra agony to both the men in the room with him. He slowly walked back over to Carlos's side, swinging the bottle by the neck as he did. He paused beside the boy and leant over, bringing his lips close to the trembling boy's ear.

"Are you in pain, Carlos?" He asked with a smirk on his lips. Carlos squeezed his eyes shut and more hot tears dripped down his cheeks. Of course he was in fucking pain! He nodded slightly.

"But not too much pain for you, eh, my brave little whore?" He chuckled as he stood up again, the bottle at his side swinging slightly in his grip as his fingers twitched in anticipation. Carlos waiting for a second, not sure what was expected of him and terrified that he would be beaten some more if he gave the wrong answer. After a moment longer he slowly shook his head, the pain was not too bad, he'd had worse, he could just about handle it.

"What about now?"

Jett swung the bottle in his hand upside down, allowing the remaining liquid to cascade down onto Carlos' damaged body. Even through the gag, his screams were ear-piercing, the terrible burning, stinging sensation tearing into the captive boy's very soul. He bucked and twisted, fighting hard against his bonds again and finding absolutely no release from either his restraints or the burning pain in his body. Byron couldn't stand it and as Jett stepped back slightly to admire his handywork he rushed forward and wrapped his arms around Carlos briefly before beginning to work on the buckles at the boy's wrists.

"Excuse me!" Jett bellowed at him, stopping him in his endevour for a moment. Carlos pressed his face tight to Byron's broad shoulder, wetting his silk shirt with his tears and saliva that drooled out from around the gag. His fingers managed to grasp the fingers of Byron's left hand where it rested in the table, supporting the MC's weight as he tried to still work the buckle loose. He scowled up at Jett.

"What do you think you are doing?" He demanded. Byron hated this fucking sadist. What did he think he was doing?

"I'm taking Carlos away so that I can clean and dress his wounds. I think he's had enough tonight." God! How he wanted to pick up that cane and thrash Jett's pretty face wide open.

"Not yet, you aren't! I've paid for two hours and two hours is what I shall have! I've still got..." He put the bottle down and undid his shirt cuffs, rolling up the left to look at the expensive gold watch that was clasped to his wrist. He shrugged and nodded his head to the side, " Fourty-three, no, fourty-two minutes left. So back away from him until my time is up!" He flashed a triumphant, sickening grin at the crying man. "Or do I have to put in a complaint to Mr Griffin?" Byron glanced back down at the boy in his arms, his moans of pain had lessened to whimpers and the boy untwisted his digits from his friend's. Slowly Byron began to stand back up straight and hessitantly stepped back from the table.

"Thank you!" Jett grinned as he finished with the buttons of his shirt and slid it from his body. Glancing around for somewhere to set it down, he walked over to were Byron was back sitting on his chair and lifted it high over the MC's head, releasing the garment and letting it flutter down onto his head. Byron caught it and angrily threw it down to the floor beside him, but Jett had already moved on to the next degradation for the wounded boy on the table. He came to the head of the table and grabbed Carlos' chin, lifting his head so that the chocolate eyes were staring straight up at him. He ran his fingers over his cheek and then suddenly plunged two fingers into his mouth, feeling to see if it had dried out from being fixed open for so long. It wasn't too bad, he figured that it was moist enough for what he wanted to do. He pulled back quickly, letting Carlos drop his head back down to rest his chin on his heaving chest as he tried to block the pain in his body from his mind. But he was perfectly aware of the sound of Jett removing his belt and popping the button on his jeans. He tried to suck more air into his lungs through his nose as he lifted his head back up, already knowing what was coming.

He was met by the sight of Jett's hard cock in front of his face, fingers curled tight around the shaft and stroking slowly as the cruel eyes watched the Latino's terrified face. Jett's tongue flicked out to moisten his dry lips as he contemplated what was about to happen.

"Open up, filthy, stinking, Mexican whore!" He barked out in order, grabbing hold of Carlos' chin again and gripping it hard to hold him steady and stop him from pulling away. There was no way that Carlos could close his mouth if he wanted to. No way that he could inflict the painful bite that he really wished he could, so he just closed his eyes again and tried hard to block what was coming now. He felt the apendage touch his lips briefly before it was thrust into his open mouth through the leather covered ring.

He took another deep pull of air through his nostrils before somehow managing to shut his mind off from the horror that was happening to him, here in the VIP room in the basement. He thought that perhaps, finally, he was so broken that nothing would affect him anymore. He felt frozen and lost. Not even sure that he felt human. He was aware of Jett thrusting in and out of his mouth, somewhere on the edge of his consciousness, but he made no attempt to struggle, allowing his body to be used while his mind floated off elsewhere. Desperately searching for somewhere safe and warm and never here again.

He needed to be free.

_**Again, so sorry for the delay! I will try really hard to get the next chapter out much quicker! Until next time! Allie XXX**_


	17. Chapter 17

Caged Diamond Chapter 17

_**A/N Again, I can only apologise for the long wait between chapters. Thank you to all who are still following and reading and reviewing this story. I do know where it is heading! Just taking me a hell of a long time to get there!**_

After Byron had taken Jett back up to the club above and seen him out he headed straight up the spiral staircase, calling to Kendall to come help him as he did. He found his friend, Sean, as he was just about to leave the kitchen for the night and head home.

"Sean! I need you to go run the bath for me! I gotta go get Carlos!" Sean nodded as he removed his jacket again and then turned to go to the bathroom. Byron turned back for the stairs again as Kendall raced up to see what the MC wanted with him. "Kendall! Good man! You come with me!" He grasped the blond's shoulder and encouraged him to follow him back to the VIP room down in the basement. He paused just before the doorway, Carlos was still whimpering and letting out little gasps of pain and Kendall looked concerned as Byron turned to face him again. Byron closed his eyes briefly and gave a deep sigh.

"Just to warn you. Carlos is in a bit of a mess, the bastard beat him pretty bad. Just so you know what to expect. I don't think he is going to be able to walk, so I need you to help me carry him, OK?" Kendall nodded although he really wasn't sure that he was ready to see his little Latino friend if he was in pain. Until now, he had always been kept away from Carlos for the first couple of days of the week after he'd had a bad experience with a VIP. Byron pushed open the door and headed back into the boy crumpled against the table. Kendall followed him in, then stood open-mouthed as he took in the condition of the boy on the table.

Byron did not seem to take any notice of Kendall as he waited for instructions while Byron himself unfastened the straps around the injured boys legs. He wrapped his left arm around Carlos' broad chest as he freed his wrists, bracing himself as the boy collapsed into his grasp, just as he had been expecting.

"Bit of help, please!" He called out, pulling Kendall from his subdued state and bringing him rushing to his side. The blond paused momentarily as he considered where to take hold of the Latino without causing him anymore pain. He finally stepped up and replaced Byron's grasp around the boy's chest, drawing him up into his own embrace as Byron reached to unbuckle the gag from around his head. His face was smeared with the drying remains of Jett's lust and Byron threw the device aside before coming back with a bottle of water and a wash-cloth to remove most of the stuff from in his mouth and golden skin. But it was the damage to his abused ass that Kendall found most upsetting. The blood covered both cheeks and had left thick scarlet trails down his thighs. Although holding the naked, whimpering youth in his arms should have felt alien to him, he was pleased that the boy was taking comfort in his embrace. Carlos was his friend and he would do anything to shield him from the horror that he had just experienced.

Carlos tried to stand, but his legs gave way as soon as he did. Kendall and Byron caught him as he began to collapse, then Byron left him to Kendall while he went and ripped the sheet from the bed on the other side of the room. He brought it over to wrap around the boy's naked form then, with a little difficulty, the two of them lifting the injured boy between them and carefully carried Carlos out of the room and then upstairs towards the bathroom.

Sean was waiting as they made their way along the corridor with him, he was still crying and whimpering as they did. From inside his room, James heard his friend cry out and slid from his bed to press his ear against the thick wood of the door. He banged hard on it and called out, asking what was wrong with his little Latino friend, even though deep in his heart he knew what was wrong. The beautiful boy was filled with rage when no one answered him and began to beat harder on the door, screaming abuse at them at the top of his voice. Byron closed his eyes and shook his head as Kendall glanced back in the direction of James' door while they carefully manoeuvred the injured boy in their arms through the door of the bathroom and over to the normally neglected tub that was full of warm water and smelt of antiseptic.

"When we have Carlos in the bath, go to James' door and tell him that I will be with him as soon as I have seen to Carlos and got him in his bed. For now, Sean, go tell him to shut the fuck up." Kendall couldn't help but give a brief smile at Byron's words, but another moan from the boy in their arms soon wiped it away. Byron carefully unwrapped the sheet from the boy while he hung from Kendall's neck. Kendall shushed him quietly, telling him that it was going to be alright. Carlos was not sure whether this time it would, he was in so much pain, but he trusted his friends and gripped tighter to Kendall and nuzzled against his neck.

Sean ran up to James' door and banged hard on the wood until James stopped his own banging.

"James!" He shouted through the door.

"What the fuck is going on out there? How is Carlos?"

"Byron said, 'Be quiet!' He said that he will come tell you what is happening when Carlos is comfortable." Sean stood pressed against the door, waiting to see if that would be enough for the boy on the chain. On the other side of the door, James stood in silence, forehead resting on his wrist, arm still against the door. He took in the message that Sean had passed on and nodded to himself.

"Yeah. OK. I'll wait for him. " He answered calmly, but then he raised his voice again. "But you make sure to tell him that I want to see Carlos!" He paused again and then stepped slowly back from the door and then turned and headed towards his bed. Sean did call out to tell him that he would ask Byron if that was possible, but James didn't really hear him. He dropped back on his bed, quiet and subdued as he wondered about exactly what had been done to his little Latino friend. There was another loud scream that echoed through the corridor and he shuddered and closed his eyes, trying to will away the horrific thoughts that filled his mind.

The scream had come when Byron and Kendall had gently lowered the injured boy into the warm water. The antiseptic was good for his injured body but it stung nearly as badly as the alcohol that Jett had poured on him had. Luckily the stinging eased after a little while, but the crying did not. Carlos was in agony, mental as well as physical. He hung on tight to Kendall's hand as Byron shed his jacket and rolled up his shirt sleeves before dropping to his knees beside the tub and reaching into the water to begin washing away the blood with a soft wash-cloth. Kendall sat himself down on the edge of the bath and let Carlos rest his cheek on his thigh. He found himself gently ruffling the boy's short black hair as his eyes watched blankly as the water was rapidly stained red with his friend's scarlet blood. From time to time Carlos would whimper again and Byron would shush him gently while Kendall dropped down to whisper in the boy's ear, he placed a gentle kiss on the top of his head and Carlos twisted up to look into his big green eyes, a pained expression on his face as he tried to smile for the blonde.

When Byron had cleaned as much blood and bodily fluids from Carlos as he could he pulled the plug then went and retrieved to big, fluffy bath towels. They were red in colour so when he helped the boy to stand on shaky legs and wrapped the first of them around his waist, the still flowing blood did not show as much as it could have. He knew the blood was still there, but not seeing it so openly lessened his heart ache for some reason.

They each wrapped an arm around Carlos and he managed to shuffle his way back to his room. Byron lay the second towel on the bed, then they helped Carlos to ease on to his bed on his stomach. Sean followed a few moments later with a large, green box in his hands, he set it down on the bed next to Carlos' legs and opened it to reveal all the first-aid supplies inside.

Kendall stood in the doorway with a grim expression on his face, arms crossed over his chest, watching as the two older men cleaned and dressed Carlos' wounds. They spoke to him in hushed tones, shushing and trying to calm his sobbing, eventually he calmed to the occasional hiccuping sob as Sean stroked his hair gently. Byron finally stood from his work and reached into his pocket, pulling out his keys and the chain that connected them to his belt loop. He turned to talk to Kendall.

"You OK?" The youth looked like he was in shock. He gulped air into his lungs and nodded his head.

"Yeah. I'm fine." He stepped to the side so he could see past Byron to the Latino on the bed. Byron twisted round and followed his gaze.

"Don't worry. He's going to be fine. I'll see to it." He flashed a tired smile and hoped that both boys believed him. " I need you to back away from the door. I'm going to go get James and I don't know how he is going to react. I don't want you to get in any trouble if he touches you." Kendall still didn't really get why he wasn't allowed to even shake the boy's hand, but he backed away like Byron was about to bring a fierce animal from it's cage and not the beautiful being that he was.

Byron rapped against the door to let James know he was there, then he unlocked the door and stepped into James' prison. He rose from his bed quickly, his golden eyes flashing with concern.

"Where's Carlos? What did the bastard do to him this time?" He demanded, them his voice softened. "Is he going to be alright?" Byron reached for him and drew him into a brief hug, whispering gentle words to try to calm his fears. He could tell from the streaks on his flushed cheeks that he had cried for his friend.

"Come with me." He reached over and unlocked the chain from the head of the bed, James waiting while her coiled the chain over his arm, then gripped it tightly in his hand, giving James only three or four foot of leash as he lead him from his own room, then the short distance to Carlos' door. "Don't touch, James." He instructed as the boy stepped into the room and stood at the end of the bed.

James let out a stifled moan as he covered his face with his hands, eyes closing involuntarily as he took in the state of Carlos' bloody behind. Even though they had dressed it with thick padding, blood was already beginning to see through. Carlos' head was turned to the side on his pillow and he was still whimpering as he breathed deep, trying to fight against the pain. James turned to face Byron, tears beginning again and no words to express his sorrow at seeing his friend like this. He slowly walked down the side of the bed then crouched down so he was face to face with Carlos, his eyes studied the boy's face and his hand lifted, desperate to touch and try to bring comfort to him in any way that he could.

"Hey, Carlos." He whispered softly, his hand reaching closer. Byron hated this. He jerked on James' chain, bringing him back to the reality of the situation.

"Don't touch!" Then softer, "I'm so sorry, but you mustn't" James turned his head to look at him, nodded then turned back to the pain filled chocolate eyes that studied him. He tucked his hands back down to remove the temptation to touch. He tried to smile.

"It's gonna be alright. This isn't going to happen to you again, I swear. I'm gonna ask Mr Griffin to keep him away from you. Yeah? It'll be alright. I promise." Carlos watched his friend's face as he promised things that they both knew he wasn't capable of. No matter how much James pleaded with Griffin, he would not stop the VIP's from abusing the boy. He had asked before, but nothing changed. Ever.

James was quiet as Byron led him back to his room, he didn't even really pay attention to Kendall as he passed him in the corridor. He dropped down onto his bed, back against the headboard, one knee drawn up to his chest as Byron locked the chain back in place.

"Is he going to be alright?" He asked the MC. Byron put his keys back in his pocket and then reached to pull the boy into his embrace, the only one who could get away with doing that. He dropped a kiss on the brunette's head and smiled to himself as the boy wrapped his arms around Byron's neck, holding him as close as possible.

"It's all going to be over soon, I swear."

"How?" The golden eyes locked with the ice blue.

"I'm not sure yet. But it will be, my dear, I promise."

And if anyone else had said that to him, James would not have believed them, but he believed every word Byron told him. No matter how impossible it seemed. He relaxed into his father figure's arms and in no time at all, he slipped into fitful sleep.

Byron settled his unconscious form down on the bed and left him. Only after he had locked both his young charges in for the night did he allow himself to slump against the wall and sobbed his heart out.

When Byron woke in the morning it took him a moment to remember where he was. After giving Carlos some painkillers and finally saying goodnight to Sean and Kendall he had decided that it would probably be best if he stayed with the Latino for the night. He'd phoned Bill and explained what was happening, his lovely young lover had chatted with him for a while, calming him as his voice was still rough and slightly tremulous from the tears he had shed. Finally he had collected an extra blanket from the laundry storage room and gone down to tell the night-guard that he was staying. Then he had slid on to the single bed next to Carlos and carefully thrown the blanket over them both.

Turning to face the young man now he carefully studied his sleeping face for signs of discomfort but, for now, he seemed at peace. Byron pulled the clothes he had been wearing the night before back on, he'd have to pop home for something else a little later, for now he made his way to the kitchen to fix himself and the boy's something to eat.

As he headed to the kitchen he heard a voice behind him and froze as he recognised it.

"Good morning, Byron." There was something about the tone that made him know he was in trouble. He swiveled around to face the man he hated more than any other on the earth. Even Jett.

"Mr Griffin. Good morning." Byron had a bad feeling about this.

"Why are you here already? A little early for you, isn't it?"

"I stayed with Carlos last night."

"Why?" Byron would have liked to punch his smug face. He was sure that he was perfectly aware of what had been done to the boy the night before.

"He was in a lot of pain. His VIP last night was... A little rough with him." Understatement of the year, he thought to himself.

"Oh yes. You do like to fuss over my property don't you?" Byron couldn't find the words to respond. Carlos was a living human being and not anyone's property. He just smiled weakly and waited to see if Griffin wanted anything more from him.

"I need to speak to you, Byron. About what went on in my club on Saturday night. Do you know what I'm talking about?" Byron closed his eyes and turned away. He gave a slow nod, feeling his heart beginning to thud in his chest.

"James jumped off stage." He mumbled.

"So I am told. I want to know as much about it as you know. Where are you going now?"

" I was going to get James and Carlos' breakfast." Griffin nodded his head.

"Alright. You go do that then. I expect to see you in my office in," He glanced at his watch. "40 minutes, shall we say?" Byron did not like where this was going.

"Yes, Sir."

"Good." He walked away, leaving Byron to try to work out how he was gonna lie his way through this.

Carlos was feeling a little better when he woke him with a plate of eggs and bacon, his backside still hurt like hell but they'd had to deal with this before and Byron knew how to make him more comfortable. A child's inflatable swimming ring was placed on his bed before he sat, giving his a little relief from the continual throbbing. Byron brought James into the room with him and the three sat enjoying each others company.

Forty minutes later, Byron made his way down to Griffin's office, his bodyguard stood behind his chair, watching as the MC entered and took a chair across from his boss. Byron always hated when the grey haired man was all smiley and nice to him, knowing, as he did, how quickly he could flip to being violent and sick-minded.

"So. Byron." He grinned that sickly grin of his. "There are a couple of things that I need to ask you about. Also, I have an apology to make." He beckoned over his secretary and gestured to the computer screen before him. Byron sat in silence, his heart thumping in his chest as she punched buttons on the keyboard. When she stepped back, music began to drift from the speakers. Rule the world. He silently cursed as Griffin turned the screen round to face him. He watched as James twirled around the pole.

"Now, I specifically told you that James was not to perform this on stage as it was not suitable for his intended audience."

"Yes, Sir. I'm sorry. It's my..." Byron rambled. Griffin cut him off.

"And I was wrong." Byron whipped his head up to stare at the man.

"Sir?"

"Watch the audience. They loved it. I never would have thought that the kind of garbage that comes here would ever have appreciated the grace and beauty of the performance. But they did, and I'm sorry for telling you not to allow it on stage. " Byron gave a weak smile. "However. I would like to know everything that you can tell me about... This." He looked to his secretary again and she pushed a few buttons and advanced the video. He turned the screen back to Byron and he watched as James leapt from the stage and rushed over to the table in the corner.

He was thankful that the corner was dark enough that the camera did not pick up very much of what happened. Only that James embraced someone sitting at that table.

"So?" Griffin turned the screen back to himself and fixed Byron with his steely gaze. "Who was she? I've studied this film repeatedly since the incident was brought to my attention and all we can make out is that it is an african american woman. Do you know who she is?" Time to lie. Well at least a little. Was it lying if you just neglected to reveal certain details? Byron took a deep breath and glanced nervously up at the man.

"Well. I did ask him that after we got back to his room." He began.

"You don't know who she is?"

"No, Sir." OK, that was a complete lie.

"What did James say then."

"He said that she was a friend of his mother's. That he'd known her when he was a child." That was true.

"What is her name?"

"I don't know, Sir. James said he used to call her 'Mama Bear'. She used to look after him when his mother was working."He crossed his hands behind his back and leveled his gaze at Griffin, almost daring him to challenge his lies.

But Griffin just nodded in consent. "How is Carlos?"

"He'll survive." As the poor boy always seemed to manage, at least for now.

"Good. I don't want to have to refund any VIP bookings that he may have this week. He makes me a lot of money with that body of his!" Griffin's grin sickened Byron, but he couldn't let it show. At least his VIP should be gentle on him on Thursday. Byron fixed a fake smile on his face. "And make sure that all the boy's are ready for my little tea party on Friday afternoon." By ready, he meant drugged enough to be compliant.

"And that includes James. He will be in his cage, but I still want him to be 'up' for the festivities!"

Byron barely concealed the shudder that swept his body at he implications of that remark. Minutes later after he had been dismissed from his boss's presence, he rushed to the bathroom and vomited up the contents of his stomach. The thought of James being the object of Griffin's associates lust was too much to bear.

Back at Logan's police funded apartment the young officer stood staring at his reflection in the mirror, barely able to believe that he was looking at himself. Blonde wig and ice-blue contacts changed the whole look of his face and wearing his uniform that no one here had ever seen him in made him completely unrecognisable. Still staring at his reflection he dialed the number on one of his many untraceable mobile phones. he heard the click as the phone was answered.

"Good morning, Club Rocque. This is Kelly Wainwright speaking. How may I help you?"

Logan took a breath before answering in an exaggerated version of his native Texan accent.

"Ah. Miss Wainwright. This is Detective David Monroe of the LAPD. "

Kelly answered with a soft 'Oh!'

"I need to come in and speak with yourself and Mr Rocque about an ongoing investigation."

"Of course! If we can be of any help."

"Good. Shall we say...Ten o'clock on Wednesday morning?"

In her office, Kelly was nodding furiously, even though 'David Monroe' couldn't see her. She finally answered verbally.

"Yes! That will be fine. I will tell Mr Rocque that you are coming. Umm. May I ask what it is about?" Logan turned her question over in his mind for a while before making his decision and giving her a one word answer.

"James." Then he hung up with a click.

_**Thank you for taking time to read this! I hope you feel inspired to review! Allie XXX**_


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